The End Of Soft Power

Trump is rapidly dismantling much of what has made America successful in exerting influence around the globe. We won't get it back easily.

I don’t know how it’s treated these days, but in ancient times when I was in school (c1980s), the Marshall Plan was spoken of in almost reverent tones—held out as an unalloyed moment of positive achievement along an American timeline of often questionable accomplishments. The cotton gin, the Gettysburg Address, and the Marshall Plan were among the few w…