John W. Kluge Lecture

In this lecture, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen argued that President Donald Trump’s contempt for the foundations of the postwar order has many US allies, including Germany and Canada, suggesting they no longer trust American leadership and need to look out for themselves. NATO, the European Union, free trade, and a rules-based world order, Cohen observes, have all been called into question by an American president who appears more at home with dictators than democratically elected leaders. But do incompetence and incoherence render Trump’s threats innocuous? If he cannot deliver, perhaps there is nothing to fear. But that’s a treacherous assumption. Cohen argued that the danger in a shifting world is real—and potentially imminent.

This event was livestreamed on our Facebook page.