Lose-lose is better than win-win? A detailed explanation of the U.S. National Security Strategy (Part 1)

I. Report Background and Core Positioning

The National Security Strategy report released by the Trump administration serves as a guiding document for the United States' military, diplomatic, and foreign policies in the coming decades. Despite its concise length of just a few pages, the report is sharply focused, with its core objective explicitly aimed at **"ensuring that the United States remains the world's most powerful, prosperous, influential, and successful nation for decades to come."** Two strategic keywords—"focus" and "coherence"—run through the report, serving not only as the central framework for understanding this strategic document but also reflecting the urgent need for the United States to coordinate strategic resources and maintain policy continuity.

In essence, this report represents a significant move by the United States to respond to the current changes in the global landscape and adjust its strategy for major power competition. Its core objective is to outline a clear path for strategic confrontation with China in the future, thereby maintaining its global dominance.

II. Critique and Reflection on U.S. Post-Cold War Strategy

The report launches a sharp critique of U.S. foreign strategy after the end of the Cold War, pointing directly to its fundamental flaws. It argues that past strategies have either fallen into "wish list" idealism, failing to clarify America's true demands, or have piled up "vague clichés," leading to misjudgments of core strategic objectives. The root of this strategic deviation is attributed to a series of serious misjudgments by the U.S. foreign policy elite.

Four Major Strategic Misjudgments of the Elite

American diplomatic elites once firmly believed that "permanent U.S. dominance over the entire world best serves our national interests." However, the report clearly points out fatal flaws in this perception: First, it severely misjudged the willingness of the American people to bear global responsibilities, as the majority view many international obligations as irrelevant to the nation’s core interests. Second, it overestimated the United States’ ability to simultaneously sustain a massive welfare system and a vast military-diplomatic apparatus, leading to excessive resource depletion. Third, it placed misguided bets on "globalism" and "free trade," as the industrial shifts driven by globalization hollowed out the foundations of the American middle class and domestic industrial base. Fourth, it allowed allies to shift their defense costs onto the United States and even dragged the nation into international conflicts unrelated to its core interests.

(2) Systematic Criticism of International Institutions

The report also criticizes U.S. policy for being constrained by a network of international institutions, arguing that some of these institutions are driven by "anti-Americanism," while others adhere to transnationalism that seeks to "dissolve national sovereignty." This excessive reliance on international mechanisms, it claims, has undermined America's strategic autonomy. The report ultimately concludes that the U.S. elite not only pursued a "fundamentally undesirable and unattainable goal" but also, in the process, eroded the very foundations necessary to achieve it—America's wealth, power, and national character.

III. Trump's Strategic "Course Correction" and Discourse Reconstruction

The core logic of the "National Security Strategy" report is to formalize and systematize Trump's political propositions, driving a comprehensive "course correction" in U.S. strategy. This process of "course correction" is accompanied by a distinct reconstruction of the discourse system, forming a highly targeted strategic narrative.

The Implicit Critique of the "National Traitor" Theory

The report implicitly contains strong criticism of specific groups, labeling "career bureaucrats," "Democratic politicians," "the Republican establishment," and "the Pentagon" as "traitors to the nation" who prioritize their own interests over those of the American people. It suggests that these groups played a significant role in past strategic failures.

(II) The Discourse Struggle for Hegemonic Autonomy

The report criticizes the dependency of both parties' foreign policies and emphasizes the demand for autonomy in American hegemony. Its core narrative logic is: The world's most powerful country can be the dog of Europeans, the dog of Israelis, the dog of Japan and South Korea, but it cannot be an independent, powerful global empire on its own. This statement directly points to past excessive compromises in U.S. diplomacy toward allies, attempting to reshape the hegemonic narrative of "America First." The report criticizes the dependency of both parties' foreign policies and emphasizes the demand for autonomy in American hegemony. Its core narrative logic is: The world's most powerful country can be the dog of Europeans, the dog of Israelis, the dog of Japan and South Korea, but it cannot be an independent, powerful global empire on its own. This statement directly points to past excessive compromises in U.S. diplomacy toward allies, attempting to reshape the hegemonic narrative of "America First."

(3) The Legitimacy Argument for "Course Correction" During Trump's Tenure

The report explicitly states, "President Trump's first term demonstrated" that all issues with past strategies "could have been resolved at once" if the leadership possessed unwavering determination. This statement not only legitimizes Trump's past policy practices but also sets the continuation of this "course correction" as a core objective for his potential second term, thereby establishing a foundation of legitimacy for strategic continuity.

IV. The Core Objective System of the U.S. National Security Strategy

The report establishes a multidimensional national security objective system covering survival, security, economy, military, society, and culture. The orientation of **"domestic affairs first"** is particularly prominent, viewing the enhancement of domestic governance capabilities as the foundation for global competition.

Basic Guarantees: Survival and Safety

Survival and security are the primary objectives of strategy, with the core tenets including ensuring the continued existence of the United States as an independent sovereign republic, safeguarding the inherent rights of its citizens, protecting the security of the nation’s territory, economic system, and way of life, and defending against a wide range of traditional and non-traditional threats such as military aggression, espionage, predatory trade practices, drug and human trafficking, propaganda warfare, and cultural subversion.

(2) Core of Domestic Affairs: Border and Immigration Governance

The report elevates immigration to the core of national security for the first time, explicitly setting the goal of "achieving full control over the borders." Its specific requirements include dismantling transportation networks that facilitate both legal and illegal entry, promoting cooperation among sovereign states to "halt, rather than facilitate, destabilizing population movements," and insisting on the autonomous determination of criteria for admitting individuals. This goal-setting profoundly reflects the concept that "diplomacy is an extension of domestic governance," placing domestic governance needs at the forefront of foreign strategy.

(3) Support System: Infrastructure, Military, and Economy

In the infrastructure sector, the strategy emphasizes building resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding natural disasters and external threats, thereby strengthening the physical barriers for domestic security. In the military domain, the goal is to create the world's most powerful, technologically advanced, and lethal armed forces, establishing a reliable nuclear deterrent and a next-generation missile defense system (including the "Iron Dome" system), with the core objective of "deterring war and, when necessary, winning wars swiftly and decisively with minimal casualties." In the economic and industrial sectors, building the "world's strongest and most dynamic economy" is regarded as the cornerstone of the American way of life and global standing. The strategy stresses revitalizing industry to meet production needs in both peacetime and wartime, while developing a globally leading energy export sector to translate economic strength into strategic competitiveness.

(IV) Core Driving Force: Technology and Innovation

The report identifies maintaining global technological leadership as a key strategic objective, explicitly requiring the protection of intellectual property from foreign theft and building competitive advantages through technological innovation. This goal is deeply intertwined with economic and military objectives, highlighting the central role of technology as a core battlefield in major-power competition.

(V) Spiritual Foundation: Soft Power and Cultural Health

The report proposes that maintaining "unmatched soft power" must be based on "restoring and revitalizing the American spirit and cultural health," arguing that the collapse of cultural identity would render long-term security unattainable. Its specific cultural objectives include constructing a truthful and glorious narrative of American history, fostering a populace that is proud, optimistic, and believes in intergenerational progress, ensuring full employment to strengthen citizens' national identity, and cultivating "strong traditional families." The report particularly emphasizes: "Without this, all our so-called national security strategies will be unachievable," viewing cultural cohesion as the spiritual foundation of strategy. This direction essentially sounds a "cultural clarion call" domestically, attempting to end the influence of "woke culture" and reshape domestic consensus with the logic of "securing the internal front before addressing external threats." The report proposes that maintaining "unmatched soft power" must be based on "restoring and revitalizing the American spirit and cultural health," arguing that the collapse of cultural identity would render long-term security unattainable. Its specific cultural objectives include constructing a truthful and glorious narrative of American history, fostering a populace that is proud, optimistic, and believes in intergenerational progress, ensuring full employment to strengthen citizens' national identity, and cultivating "strong traditional families." The report particularly emphasizes: "Without this, all our so-called national security strategies will be unachievable," viewing cultural cohesion as the spiritual foundation of strategy. This direction essentially sounds a "cultural clarion call" domestically, attempting to end the influence of "woke culture" and reshape domestic consensus with the logic of "securing the internal front before addressing external threats."

V. Strategic External Extension: Global Projection of Domestic Objectives

The report clearly states that the above-mentioned goals, which appear to focus on domestic affairs, are not merely about "self-preservation" but rather serve as actions to "benefit the world" in the context of global hegemonic competition. The second part of the report will focus on foreign policy, with the core logic being to mobilize all national resources to support the achievement of domestic objectives while leveraging diplomatic means to transform domestic governance outcomes into global competitive advantages. This framework indicates that the adjustments in U.S. domestic policies are not a strategic retreat but rather a preparation for long-term global competition. Its strategy exhibits a strong outward projection, and subsequent steps will further clarify its impact pathways on key regions such as Europe.

Conclusion: The Nationalist Shift in American Strategy

The Trump administration's "National Security Strategy" report marks a significant transformation in American strategic thinking, with **"domestic priorities first" and "cultural mobilization"** as its core features. By fiercely criticizing post-Cold War globalist diplomacy, the report refocuses strategic attention on America's own security, economic prosperity, and cultural identity, constructing a strategic system grounded in domestic governance and centered on nationalism. Domestic issues such as border crises, industrial revival, and the reshaping of traditional values have been elevated to the core of national security, while powerful military and diplomatic resources serve as tools to safeguard this system. This nationalist shift toward "America First" essentially intertwines the reshaping of domestic cohesion with the maintenance of global hegemony, attempting to bolster future great-power competition and confrontation by strengthening internal unity. This approach will have profound implications for the global landscape and major-power relations.