Some observers have approvingly claimed that the second Trump administration heralds a realist revival in American foreign policy. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Robert O’Brien, who served as national security adviser in the first Trump administration, eagerly promised “the return of realism with a Jacksonian flavor.”

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump declared that "America's decline is over," while promising several executive orders on a range of areas from immigration to inflation.

President Donald Trump used his second inaugural address to hold up his indomitability and escape from a would-be assassin’s bullet as a metaphor for a “strong,” “proud” nation that “will not be conquered.