Mark Danner

Trump’s Revolution in Foreign Affairs

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Foreign Reporting

Trump’s Revolution in Foreign Affairs

Fall 2025, Journalism 298, Tuesdays 2 – 5, North Gate 108

Not the least consequential of President Donald J. Trump’s myriad feats is ending the bipartisan consensus on American foreign policy that has endured for eight decades. Since shortly after World War II ended in 1945, the United States built its international power on alliances which had wartime foes at their heart: In Europe, an American-occupied Germany anchored the North American Treaty Organization. In Asia, Japan hosted the American Seventh Fleet — and the US Marines. Decade after decade, as Republican followed Democrat in the White House, they cultivated and grew these alliances as the key underpinning of American power — until Donald Trump. With his brash self-assurance and proud ignorance of history and precedent, President Trump is gleefully dismantling the partnerships that his predecessors constructed and busily replacing them with… what? Well, that — like so much else with Trump — remains unclear. Whatever it is, it is transactional, aggressive and, up to now, deeply improvisational. In this seminar, we will follow Trump’s slapdash revolution by debating the moves and feints Trump is making day by day, by analyzing how they are covered and by putting ourselves in the position of editors and reporters who have the duty to bring the Trumpian insurrection before the eyes of the public. Our aim: to learn about foreign policy and how to cover it in the unprecedented Age of Trump.

Course Goals In this seminar we will seek to achieve three broad and interconnected goals:

  1. To explore the present shift in American foreign policy and determine why it is important
  2. To gain familiarity with current coverage of that shift and with those reporters covering it
  3. To highlight basic techniques of reporting about foreign policy

Class Requirements This seminar will be a mixture of lecture, class discussion and written assignments, backed up by selected readings of books and articles and viewings of films. The most important requirements are that students

*Attend all class sessions

*Keep up with reading and viewing assignments

*Participate in discussions

*Do one 10-page paper about Trump’s foreign policy

A student’s record of attendance and participation in class discussion, together

with the quality of their writing, will determine the success of our class and

contribute the better part of the grade.

Schedule Note that classes will meet Tuesdays at 2 pm in North Gate 108 and will end at 5 pm. We will normally break for about 10 minutes at 3:30. Please plan to do any texting and telephoning you find necessary during the break.

Reading Our primary reading will draw largely from a number of books and

articles on U.S. foreign policy, classic and contemporary. I strongly urge you to obtain these books in your own copies and in the edition specified, either from local bookstores or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate them.

Tracking the News A significant part of each class will be given over to tracking

and discussing U.S. foreign policy as it takes shape each week. Following these events closely in various publications, beginning with the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and websites, and familiarizing yourselves with the work of the leading contemporary foregin correspondents and foreign affairs commentators, is essential. Even if you are not a habitual newspaper reader, you must become one for this class. Also strongly recommended are The Guardian, New York, The Atlantic and Politico, among other publications.

Research paper or Article. Each student will have to write an analytical paper about foreign policy during the early Trump administration or a journalistic article or OpEd. For October TK, each student will have to hand in a printed precis of 4-5 lines explaining what will be addressed in the research paper. The paper should be 10 to 12 pages long, double spaced, titled, paginated, and printed out for December TK.

AI and Chatbots. Note that using AI tools or chatbots is not permitted on assignments in this course.

Office Hours I will count on meeting with each of you individually at least once

during the term. We will make these appointments on an ad hoc basis. I am best reached via email, at mark@markdanner.com. My office is North

Gate 32. My writing, speaking and other information can be found at my website,

markdanner.com.

Grading. Students will be graded on their preparedness and their participation in

class, the strength of their presentations, and the quality of their written work, as

follows:

Attendance           25 percent

Participation         25 percent

Research paper     50 percent

Note that regular attendance is vital. Those who miss classes will not do well.

Films. Each week films will be assigned along with the reading. Please try to watch these on a large screen, uninterrupted and with the utmost attention. Don’t “multi-task”! Best to watch along with colleagues from the class.

Syllabus and Texts. Note the list of assignments and books below will likely

change during the semester. Some books we will read in excerpt, not in full. As the

semester progresses some articles will replace books or supplement them. The

syllabus will be regularly updated on bCourses and you will receive a fully revised

syllabus at the end of the course.

Course Assistant. Our course assistant this semester will be Christian Baba.  will be updating the syllabus with notes from each class, taping the sessions, keeping a list of presentations and of office hours appointments, and otherwise making the trains run on time. Christian can be reached via email at christianbaba@berkeley.edu.

Texts

Atef Abu Saif, Don’t Look Left: A Diary of Genocide (Beacon, 2024)

John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (Simon & Schuster, 2020)

Hal Brands, American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (Brookings, 2018)

Martin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public (Stripe, 2018)

Luke Mogelson, The Storm is Here: An American Crucible (Penguin, 2022)

Josh Rogin, Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi and the 21st Century (Harper, 2021)

Yarislav Trofimov, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence (Penguin, 2024)

Donald J. Trump w/Tony Schwartz, The Art of the Deal (Random House, 2015 [1987])

Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster, 2020)

Michael Wolff, All of Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America (Crown, 2025)

Films & Videos

Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice

Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham et al, No Other Land (2024)

Evgeny Afineevsky, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Dylan Bank et al, Get Me Roger Stone

Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol

Patricia DiCarlo, Assault on Democracy

Tentative Syllabus

September 9 – Introduction: Trump’s Revolution in Foreign Affairs

Tour d’horizon. Tracking foreign policy crisis. Ukraine and Gaza and Taiwan. Trump’s diplomacy. The wars that haven’t ended. The end of American primacy. What was the American superpower? The roots of US foreign policy. The three poles of US power. NATO and the European alliance. Japan and the Asian littoral. The latecomer: The Middle East. The Cold War and the post-Cold War era. The plan of the course. Beginning with the contemporary. Our reading list. Projects and writing. The final paper. Research and reporting.

Notes:
This was the first class, so it was mostly setting up the course and talking about what we’ll cover. The focus is on Trump’s foreign policy shift, how personal his approach is, and why understanding his mindset matters. We also talked about class logistics, reading habits, and the importance of diverse viewpoints.


Points:

  • Course goal: explore Trump’s break from 80 years of U.S. foreign policy norms.
  • U.S. now looks like an “elected autocracy”; Trump’s team is more disciplined than before.
  • Presidents often pivot to foreign policy after losing domestic power.
  • Trump’s worldview: everything is transactional, alliances seen as unfair.
  • Class needs more ideological diversity (currently no Trump supporters).
  • Read widely: NYT, Washington Post, Economist, Foreign Affairs, Politico, niche sources like Defense One.
  • Bring passages from readings to class; final paper can be reporting, op-ed, or research.
  • Stay engaged with current foreign policy news and share articles.

Read:

September 16 –Who Is Donald Trump? The Rise of the Deal Maker

Read:

Notes:

We dug into The Art of the Deal and how Trump’s personality shapes policy. The conversation covered his improvisational style, hatred of bureaucracy, and obsession with winning. We also discussed Gaza, NATO, and the risks of dismantling the National Security Council.

Main Points:

  • Trump’s traits: grandiosity, impulsiveness, zero-sum thinking, “truthful hyperbole.”
  • Prefers gut instinct over preparation; doesn’t read briefings.
  • NSC gutted; interagency coordination gone—big risk for crisis management.
  • Gaza: U.S. moving away from two-state solution; Europe pushing for recognition.
  • Historical parallels: Bush-era unilateralism, post-9/11 surveillance state.
  • Tech firms like Palantir shaping national security infrastructure.
  • Art of the Deal shows disdain for rules and love of bravado.
  • Influence of Roy Cohn and early business culture on Trump’s tactics.

September 23 – Who Is Donald Trump? The Family Background

Watch: Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice

Notes:
This class focused on Trump’s UN speech—his attacks on climate change, immigration, and multilateralism—and what that says about U.S. leadership now. We tied this to Mary Trump’s psychological analysis and looked at how global alignments are shifting toward China.


Main Points:

  • UN speech themes: climate change is a “hoax,” fossil fuels praised, anti-immigration.
  • Claims of ending “seven wars” and brokering peace are obviously mostly exaggerated.
  • Mary Trump’s insights: fear of inadequacy, obsession with dominance, inability to admit mistakes.
  • U.S.-Europe split over Gaza and Palestine recognition; NATO tensions rising.
  • Risks of European/German rearmament debated.
  • China exploiting U.S. policy gaps to woo Brazil, India, South Africa.
  • Trump uses spectacle to control news cycles; concerns about press freedom and Pentagon restrictions.
  • Students debated whether EU should take on global enforcement role.

September 30 – US Grand Strategy in the Trump Era

Read:

Notes:
We focused on Trump’s new defense strategy and what it means for U.S. foreign policy. The discussion centered on the leaked National Defense Strategy (NDS), which signals a huge shift toward “Fortress America” – what Hal Brand’s described in his book, where America begins pulling back from global commitments and using the military for domestic security. We also talked about the Gaza ceasefire plan and how Trump’s transactional mindset shapes these decisions.

Main Points:

  • NDS suggests a revolutionary shift: prioritize homeland threats, scale back global commitments, and slim down competition with China.
  • Pentagon leaders are worried this breaks with decades of alliance-based strategy.
  • Trump wants to use the military against “enemies within,” which clashes with the Posse Comitatus Act (illegal to use federal troops for law enforcement).
  • Big implications: NATO credibility, Baltic security, and possible arms races if Europe rearms.
  • Gaza plan: 20-point framework for ceasefire, hostages, and eventual governance—but Hamas likely won’t accept full disarmament.
  • Trump’s foreign policy logic = transactional + short-term wins (photo ops, headlines) over long-term stability.
  • We debated whether this could lead to a more unstable world and what happens if alliances crumble.

October 7 – Who Is Donald Trump? Deal Maker to Leader of the Western World

Read:

Watch:

  • Mark Burnett, The Apprentice (Excerpts)
  • Dylan Bank et al, Get Me Roger Stone
  • Anonymous [Miles Taylor], “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump

Administration,” New York Times, September 5, 2018

Notes:
We started with final paper ideas (lots of creative angles!) and then shifted to Gaza negotiations and Bolton’s book. The Gaza talks are stuck on major issues like Israeli withdrawal and Hamas disarmament. Bolton’s memoir gave us a vivid picture of what it’s like to work for Trump—chaotic meetings, constant reversals, and decisions driven by vanity and Fox News coverage.

Main Points:

  • Gaza sticking points: Israeli withdrawal zones, Hamas disarmament, PA involvement, and two-state solution language.
  • Trump’s approach: quick wins, photo ops, and pressure on Netanyahu—but no clear mechanism for next steps.
  • Bolton’s book shows Trump’s management style:
    • Obsessed with press coverage; changes policy based on headlines.
    • Undercuts staff constantly; reverses decisions on a whim.
    • Treats foreign leaders like personal friends, not state actors.
    • Meetings = chaos; hard to brief him because he won’t listen.
  • Trump’s worldview: alliances are bad deals; everything is transactional.
  • We asked: could any system make foreign policy work under Trump? Consensus: almost impossible without sacrificing national interests.
  • Big takeaway: personality drives policy and often overrides strategy.

October 14 – All About the Stupid Coup: January 6

Read: 

  • Luke Mogelson, The Storm is Here: An American Crucible (Penguin, 2022)
  • Mark Danner, “Be Ready to Fight,” New York Review of Books, February 12, 2021
  • ————-, The January 6th Report (US Printing Office, 2021) (excerpts)
  • Trump’s Gaza Peace Push Faces Skepticism in Washington
    By Missy Ryan and Karen DeYoung, October 14, 2025
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/14/trump-gaza-middle-east-peace/
  • In the Autumn of America’s Empire: How Trump is Demolishing U.S. Global Power and Its World Order
    By Alfred McCoy, October 2025
    (Published in TomDispatch; widely cited in academic and policy circles)
  • Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize after Gaza ceasefire deal
    By Martin Pengelly, October 9, 2025
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/09/trump-nobel-peace-prize
  • Trump presses Hamas disarmament as Israel ceasefire holds
    By John Hudson, October 14, 2025
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/14/trump-hamas-disarm-israel-ceasefire/

Watch:     

  • Patricia DiCarlo, Assault on Democracy
  • NBC News, Video Of Capitol Riot Shown During First Jan. 6 Committee Hearing

Overview:
We unpacked the Gaza ceasefire aftermath and read Alfred McCoy’s piece predicting the decline of U.S. global hegemony under Trump. The conversation explored whether Trump is dismantling the liberal international order, how soft power matters, and what happens when autocrats dominate global politics. We also tied this to Mogulson’s book on January 6th and Trump’s base.


Main Points:

  • Gaza update: hostages returned, but next steps (Arab peace force, governance, Israeli pullback) are vague and stalled.
  • Trump’s leverage worked short-term, but his attention span and lack of structure threaten the deal.
  • McCoy’s argument: Trump is hollowing out the liberal order: alliances, free trade, and sovereignty norms.
  • U.S. soft power (education, diplomacy, climate leadership) is collapsing; China filling the gap.
  • Debate: is Trump creating a new oligarchy or just moving chairs on the Titanic?
  • Mogulson’s book: prophetic look at Trump’s coalition and political violence; shows how grievance politics fueled January 6th.

October 21 – Return to Triumph: The Re-election of Trump

Read: Michael Wolff, All of Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America (Crown, 2025)

  • David Leonhardt, “’A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy,” The New York Times,” September 17, 2022
  • Robert Kagan, “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending”, The Washington Post, November 30, 2023

Notes:
This discussion focuses on Trump’s foreign policy maneuvers, particularly in Gaza and Venezuela, and examines how these actions intersect with media coverage, language framing, and ideological battles. It also explores Project 2025’s influence on domestic policy and critiques the Democratic Party’s strategic shortcomings.

Main Points:

    • Ceasefire remains fragile; violence continues despite formal agreements.
    • Hamas reasserting control through executions of rival clans.
    • U.S. involvement: Kushner and Witkoff lead negotiations, signaling Trump’s desire for a diplomatic win.
    • U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, including aircraft carriers and B-52 flyovers makes us wonder whether there is peculation about a coup attempt; historical parallels drawn to Guatemala (1954) and Iran (1953).
    • Debate over terminology in Gaza coverage (“war” vs. “genocide”).
    • Heritage Foundation’s blueprint driving policy decisions.
    • Democrats criticized for failing to anticipate or counter these moves.

October 28 —  Blueprint for a Revolution: Project 2025

Read: Paul Dans & Steven Groves (eds.), 2025: Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (The Heritage Foundation, 2023), Section 2: “The Common Defense”

Notes:
The main topics were research topics on foreign policy and updates on Trump’s Asia trip, Gaza ceasefire challenges, Ukraine sanctions, and Venezuela’s political crisis. It concludes with analysis of Project 2025’s defense priorities and their domestic implications.

Main Points:

  • Trump’s visit to Japan and South Korea amid trade tensions.
  • Gaza ceasefire under strain; U.S. troops deployed to monitor compliance.
  • Ukraine sanctions target major Russian oil companies; Trump’s negotiation style remains unpredictable.
  • U.S. actions interpreted as efforts to force regime change.
  • Historical context: echoes of Cold War-era interventions.
  • Discussion of potential consequences, including nationalist resistance. Emphasis on missile defense systems (“Golden Dome”) and space militarization.
  • Social program cuts (SNAP, Medicaid) contrasted with increased defense spending.

November 4 – Trump, Russia and the War in Ukraine

Read: 

  • Yarislav Trofimov, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence (Penguin, 2024)
  • Dexter Filkins, “Is the US Ready for the Next War?” The New Yorker,

          July 14, 2025

Watch: Evgeny Afineevsky, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (2015)

             Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

Notes:
This conversation centers on the roots of the Ukraine war, contrasting media coverage of Ukraine and Gaza, and analyzing propaganda and ethical challenges in journalism. It also addresses Trump’s nuclear weapons testing statement, his meeting with Xi Jinping, and broader issues of historical context in reporting.

Main Points:

  • Historical factors: NATO expansion, Maidan uprising, and Putin’s strategic objectives. Debate over whether Yanukovych’s removal constituted a coup.
  • Review of documentaries (Winter on Fire, 20 Days in Mariupol)
  • Language choices (“war,” “siege,” “genocide”) and their implications for public perception.
  • Erroneous statements on nuclear weapons testing; later walked back.
  • Meeting with Xi Jinping yields unclear outcomes; tariff disputes persist.
  • Information warfare and propaganda remain central in modern conflicts.

November 11 – Veteran’s Day: No Class

November 18 – Trump, Gaza and the Middle East

Read:

Watch: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham et al, No Other Land (2024)

Three Sentence Precis of Final Paper Due

Notes:
We focused on two major conflicts—Ukraine and Gaza—before pivoting toward China and Taiwan. The discussion explored Trump’s foreign policy unpredictability, the politics behind peace plans, and the challenges of reporting on these crises. We also reflected on how Trump’s personality shapes U.S. diplomacy and why that matters for journalists.

Main Points:

  • Trump’s 28-point plan closely mirrors Russian proposals, raising questions about U.S. credibility.
  • Zelensky’s counterproposal (19 points) signals Ukraine’s effort to appear cooperative while rejecting territorial concessions. Key obstacle: security guarantees, Trump lacks political weight to enforce them, and Europeans hesitate to deploy troops.
  • Trump’s ceasefire hailed as a win, but rebuilding and governance remain vague. Israeli occupation persists; Hamas regaining ground.
  • International stabilization force still theoretical—no clear commitments from contributing nations.
  • Partition risk: signs of a permanent split between Israeli-controlled zones and Hamas areas.
  • Covering these conflicts requires anticipating scenarios and cultivating sources (military attachés, opposition figures, families of conscripts).
  • We debated how to report a Taiwan crisis: where to be, who to talk to, and how to plan for dynamic conditions.

November 25 – Trump, Taiwan and the China Challenge

Read:

Notes:
This session centered on U.S.–China relations and Taiwan, framed by the book Chaos Under Heaven. We examined military scenarios, strategic ambiguity, and Trump’s transactional worldview. The conversation also touched on semiconductor security and the political logic behind U.S. policy shifts.

Main Points:

  • Reuters outlined six options—from limited blockade to full invasion. Blockade strategy seen as most likely: hard for U.S. to justify war politically, yet destabilizing for Taiwan.
  • Syracuse war game emphasized China exploiting U.S. political hesitation rather than direct confrontation.
  • U.S. has relied on ambiguity since the 1970s; Trump disrupted that with erratic statements (“They’re 8,000 miles away…”).
  • First Trump term hardened China policy: likely irreversible, per the Rogin’s point from Chaos Under Heaven.
  • Debate: Is Trump motivated by chip security or avoiding market disruption? Consensus: his decisions lack systemic logic.
  • Taiwan dominates advanced chip production; U.S. scrambling to reshore via Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan plants.
  • We discussed firsthand accounts of TSMC operations from Kelly’s friends experience: tight security, high pay, and strategic importance for AI and defense.

December 2 – Liberation Day: Trump and International Trade

Research Paper or Article of 12 Double-Spaced Pages Due

Read:


Notes:
We closed the semester by analyzing Venezuela as a case study in Trump-era foreign policy—performative force versus real strategy. The discussion tied together themes of regime change, press freedom, and the difficulty of predicting Trump’s moves. We also reflected on journalism’s role more broadly in the current era, and how to break through.

Main Points:

  • U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean (aircraft carriers, bombers) signals pressure, not full invasion capability.
  • Policy goals: intimidate Maduro or trigger a coup—echoes of Guatemala (1954) and Cold War tactics. Risks: escalation, nationalist backlash, and political blowback at home.
  • Trump’s inconsistency: dramatic threats (no-fly zone, bounties) with little follow-through.
  • Trump’s approval at historic lows; foreign policy wins seen as lifelines.
  • Congressional Republicans uneasy fear of “forever wars” clashing with MAGA promises.

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