SEOUL – Watch the missiles fly. President Donald Trump's foreign policy doctrine was simple and direct. The first rule was: America First. The second rule was: America First. The third rule was: see Rules One and Two.
Of course, Mr. Trump expected that other countries would also seek their own interests first. As a realist in foreign policy, he welcomed that rivalry of interests. Mr. Trump reveled in negotiations with such rivals with the gusto of a flashy New York businessman.
Allies and adversaries alike appreciated the simple clarity of the Trump Doctrine. And allies especially appreciated the American strength that emanates from an America First posture.
Few allies benefitted more from the Trump Doctrine than the 25 million South Koreans living around this capital city, hard against a nuclear fault line with their communist neighbor to the north. "Little Rocket Man," as Mr. Trump memorably coined him, took notice.
LRM understood the Trump Doctrine and politely put his weapons away after Mr. Trump reminded LRM that America, too, had a nuclear button. And his was bigger.
It has been barely a year since Mr. Trump left office, replaced by the most heralded foreign policy expert Washington ever invented. President Joe Biden boasts foreign policy chops that in Washington even outshine those of failed former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
Which is to say, he is a complete and total unmitigated disaster on the world stage. He has swapped America First with America Last. Mr. Biden has turned the American flag into a doormat for all the world's problems.
Mr. Biden is busy obsessing over 100,000 Russian troops gathered at Ukraine's border while entirely ignoring the invasion of many times that number at America's own border. Dictators around the globe – from LRM to Russian President Vladimir Putin to Chinese President Xi Jinping – have taken notice. LRM is back to firing missiles across the bow of South Korea.
Speaking here last week, former Vice President Mike Pence reminded Seoul of the Trump Doctrine and how "peace follows strength."
"Weakness arouses evil and a resurgence of missile tests and provocations from Pyongyang – including this week's promises to 'shake the world' – are a testament to this truth," Mr. Pence said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Biden's hapless Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled in Hawaii with foreign ministers from South Korea and Japan in hopes of unlocking the great mystery of why LRM has resumed his menacing rocket launches after a years-long halt under the Trump Doctrine.
No word on whether the appropriately-named Mr. Blinken figured it out.
But he did conduct a press conference in which he referred to the present nuclear unpleasantness with North Korea as "a phase of provocation."
"We are absolutely united in our approach, in our determination," Blinken blinked.
Also meeting in recent weeks was Mr. Putin and Mr. Jinping, apparently discussing precisely how much Mr. Jinping will support Mr. Putin's menacing military movements at the border of Ukraine.
All thanks to Mr. Biden's new foreign policy of America Last. Experts in Washington are all well and good – until somebody lets them out into the real world with actual power.
- Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.