After four disorienting weeks, the Trump administration’s foreign policy has become crystal clear: Screw the rest of the world, allies and adversaries alike.

Who cares if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin gets to keep the wide swath of Ukraine’s territory he seized in a brutal, unprovoked invasion? Why should the Ukrainians even be at the table when we talk to the Russians about a peace deal? After all, President Donald Trump promised to quickly end the war; he and Putin can decide the terms. Maybe the United States would be more concerned about Ukraine’s sovereignty if we were given half of the country’s valuable mineral resources. Does that make us sound like mobsters running a protection racket? Well, the world is a tough place.

Who cares if the newly contemptuous U.S. stance toward the democracies of Europe makes them feel abandoned and vulnerable? Who cares if the leaders of wealthy, technologically advanced nations such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy - effectively demilitarized, beneath the U.S. umbrella, since the apocalypse of World War II - decide they now have no choice but to massively rearm? What if Europe is soon bristling with weapons, and what if Putin sees this buildup as a threat? What could possibly go wrong?

Who cares if the Palestinians are permanently denied their dream of an independent state? Now that more than a year of scorched-earth Israeli bombardment - in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack and hostage-taking - has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, why doesn’t the United States just seize that seafront property and turn it into a lucrative Riviera-style resort? The Palestinians can go live elsewhere, all 2 million of them, and we don’t care where, as long as it’s not here.

Who cares if children die in regions of Africa ravaged by war, famine and disease? Trump promised to cut federal spending, and although foreign aid is just 1 percent of the budget, the U.S. Agency for International Development is an easy target for Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Yes, the richest man in the world is taking food out of the mouths of some of the poorest people. Deal with it.

Who cares if our allies in the Western Hemisphere are alarmed by sudden new demands for territory and tribute? Trump insults Canada, our most steadfast partner in war and peace for more than a century, by calling it “the 51st state” and referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “governor.” He threatens Canada and Mexico, our biggest trading partners, with crippling tariffs. Displeased with the way the Panama Canal is being run, he vows to “take it back.”

All Americans should care about these radical departures from long-established policy toward the rest of the world. Trump promised to make America great again, but he is doing the polar opposite. His bellicose chest-thumping makes this nation smaller, weaker, more isolated - and negates the concept of American exceptionalism.

Bullying is a behavior that can intimidate, as anyone who has spent time in a schoolyard knows. But it does not project genuine strength. It reveals insecurity, weakness, overcompensation for some deficiency. Trump’s foreign policy is that of a paper tiger, not a real one.

Since the postwar Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe was launched in 1948, generations of U.S. leaders have been guided by the principle that encouraging the spread of democracy and free markets makes our own nation safer and more prosperous. We have made terrible mistakes along the way - the Vietnam War, interventions in Latin America, the invasion and occupation of Iraq - but we have never abandoned the idea of the United States as a “shining city on a hill.” Presidents from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have used that metaphor to describe America’s place in the world.

Trump evidently has a meaner, more constricted vision. He reduces the United States to just another cynical player in a zero-sum game. For us to win, in this view, others must lose.

This is an abdication, not an assertion, of American leadership, and it invites other nations to fill the vacuum. China is the obvious main beneficiary. European Union officials have already talked about expanding trade with Beijing in light of Trump’s myriad tariffs. China has spent years expanding its influence in Africa and reportedly has offered to take over halted USAID projects in Nepal, Colombia and the Cook Islands. The BRICS trade group founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has grown to include 10 nations - including Indonesia, which joined in January. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spends his time uselessly trying to end diversity efforts in the U.S. military rather than planning to counter the Chinese military’s growing power and sophistication.

Trump is leading us not toward greatness, but toward surrender.