Nuclear power plant seized by Russia forces; more wild weather to come for NSW, Queensland; Australian cricketer Shane Warne dead at 52

From the earliest days of his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump aggressively challenged the pillars of Republican foreign policy that defined the party since World War II.

He mocked John McCain’s capture during the Vietnam War, validated autocrats with his platitudes, questioned longtime military and security alliances and embraced an isolationist worldview.

And to the horror of many GOP leaders at the time, it worked, resonating with voters who believed, in part, that a bipartisan establishment in Washington had brokered trade deals that hurt American workers and recklessly stumbled into so-called “forever wars.”

But Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is posing a serious test for Trump and his “America First” doctrine at a moment when he is eyeing another presidential run and using this year’s midterm elections to keep bending the GOP to his will.

He’s largely alone in his sustained praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “smart,” an assessment he reiterated last week during speeches to donors and conservative activists. His often deferential vice president, Mike Pence, split with him on the issue late Friday.

The multinational partnerships that Trump repeatedly undermined, meanwhile, have allowed the West to quickly band together to hobble Russia’s economy with coordinated sanctions. The NATO alliance, which Trump once dismissed as “obsolete,” is flexing its strength as a foil to Russia’s aggression.

Perhaps most fundamentally, the war is a fresh reminder, observers say, that the US can’t simply ignore the world’s problems, even if that’s sometimes a politically appealing way to connect with voters facing their own daily struggles.

“This is a brutal wake-up call to both parties that not only are we not going to be able to do less in the world,” said Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former diplomat. “We are going to have to do more.”

While he argued that large elements of both parties have demonstrated a desire to turn inward, the current situation poses a “special problem” for Republicans and the “America firsters” who have previously tried to paint Russia has a benign actor.

“The entire thrust of America First, I would argue, was misguided in a world where what happens anywhere can and will affect us,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the Western unity that has taken hold against Russia can be sustained if the war escalates, expands beyond Ukraine or drags on indefinitely.

On the eve of Russia’s invasion, just 26 per cent of Americans said they supported the U.S. playing a major role in the conflict, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research.

AP