The Court Painter foolishly considered taking a break, laying down the brush to relax over the holiday season. However, newly minted imperialistic stirrings from south of the Great Dominion’s undefended border put those thoughts to rest, making a cry of caution necessary.
Trump seeking to “reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine” is further evidence of his “America First” approach to foreign policy, experts and members of his administration say.
“Past administrations perpetuated the belief that the Monroe Doctrine had expired. They were wrong,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech on Saturday.
“The Monroe Doctrine is in effect and it is stronger than ever under the Trump Corollary, a common sense restoration of our power and prerogatives in this hemisphere consistent with U.S. interests.”
That strategy has been most visible in U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea since September, which have killed nearly 90 people so far, as well as a U.S. military buildup near Venezuela.
Source: Global News December 8/25
Big Stick policy, in American history, policy popularized and named by Theodore Roosevelt 26th US President as an update to the Monroe Doctrine asserted U.S. domination when such dominance was considered the moral imperative. The Western Hemisphere remains a predominantly U.S.sphere of influence.
Source: Britannica
Excerpt from National Security Strategy of the United States of America November 2025
The Trump Corollary
A. Western Hemisphere:
The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.
