On most days, the words “Donald Trump” and “strategy” don’t fit in the same sentence. Combined, they’re an oxymoron in the truest sense. After all, strategy denotes a well-thought-out plan with concrete goals, realistic ways of achieving those goals and a set of principles that serve as an anchor as the president goes about the job. Trump, however, is the personification of an anti-strategy president whose version of a well-crafted policymaking process is writing a long screed on his Truth Social media platform.

Even so, every president needs to publish a national security strategy during their term. Trump did so in his first term, and that document stressed great power competition at every opportunity. President Joe Biden committed his own strategy to paper, citing China as an aspiring global hegemon that the United States needed to cooperate with when possible and contain when needed. Trump’s second-term strategy, published last week, goes beyond that relatively uncontroversial theme by stressing U.S. sovereignty and power above all other considerations.

There are some items in Trump’s national security strategy that are positive and frankly refreshing.

It ditches the rules-based order pablum we often hear from U.S. politicians ad nauseam, a construct that elevates universal values and suggests that international politics are governed by a set of hard-and-fast laws, rules and conventions.

But the world doesn’t work like that; power and interests, not the United Nations charter, govern how states behave. And the United States, a country that wrote the rules after World War II, isn’t exactly shy about abandoning those rules when it suits our agenda. If you don’t believe me, just look at the 2003 war in Iraq, which wasn’t authorized by the U.N. Security Council, or Washington’s support for some nasty autocrats who are deemed strategically important (rightly or wrongly). At least we’re no longer pretending a rules-based order exists.

Moreover, Trump’s overall goals in the strategy are quite conventional.

In the Western Hemisphere, the Trump administration seeks to make the lives of cartels, drug traffickers and human smugglers miserable; preserve its superior position in the region relative to other non-hemispheric powers such as China and Russia; and ensure strategic locations such as the Panama Canal are secure. In Europe, U.S. officials are pressing the issue of burden sharing and incentivizing Washington’s European allies to take more responsibility for their own security. In East Asia, the United States hopes to maintain a stable balance of power with China, whose own military capability is exceedingly more impressive than it was a decade earlier. And in the Middle East, striking peace agreements is the primary objective. It’s hard to see why anyone would have an issue with any of this.

Yet to describe the White House strategy document as all roses would be a gross oversimplification as well.

The White House and the president himself preach the value of noninterventionism in other states’ domestic politics, but this is hard to square with Trump’s incessant meddling in foreign elections. Before Argentines went to the polls in October, Trump endorsed Argentine President Javier Milei’s party and threatened to revoke a $20 billion bailout package if the results weren’t to his liking (they were). In November, days before Hondurans were set to vote for a new president, Trump waded in and endorsed Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a right-wing politician. And again, Trump used his favorite tool: coercion. “If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras … we will be very supportive,” Trump wrote Nov. 28. “If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.” The votes in this tight race are still being counted.

Trump’s policy in Latin America is also working at cross purposes with his lofty objectives. As the national security strategy stresses, the United States aims to get more Latin American countries to buy into the U.S. sphere of influence. That’s all well and good.

But U.S. activities in the hemisphere are complicating precisely what the Trump administration wants to achieve.

Trump’s decision over the summer to institute arbitrary tariffs on Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, in an attempt to coerce Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva into dropping the prosecution of his political adversary, Jair Bolsonaro, has been incredibly counterproductive. First, the economic pressure failed to push the Brazilian government into dropping Bolsonaro’s case. Second, with the U.S. market more expensive, the tariffs accelerated trade activity between Brazil and China, which while not a bad thing in its own right is still indicative of the Trump administration’s often-unsophisticated, ham-fisted approach. And third, the U.S. economic penalties have provided Brazilian foreign policy officials with even more reason to pursue a multivector foreign policy that doesn’t fully align with Washington.

The ongoing U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean aren’t doing the U.S. any favors either. Sure, there are some countries in the region, such as Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Dominican Republic, that are supportive of the Trump administration’s militarized war on drugs. But the vast majority are firmly opposed due to the moral aspects involved as well as the actions’ ineffectiveness on a more practical level. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has feuded with Trump over what he calls state-sanctioned murder, and Colombian intelligence officials have reportedly limited counternarcotics cooperation with Washington in response. Brazil is aghast at the tactics. And Mexico, one of the most important U.S. counternarcotics partners in the world, has no intention of lending a hand in these strikes.

The good news: Trump’s second national security document could have been much, much worse. It also could have been better.

Whether it matters at all will be determined by Trump’s capacity to see it through.

Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

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Today is Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2025. There are 15 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 16, 2000, President-elect George W. Bush nominated Colin Powell to become secretary of state; Powell was confirmed by the Senate and became the first African-American to hold the position.

Also on this date:

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.

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In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known as the “Great White Fleet,” set sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a 14-month, round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power.

In 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg.

In 1960, 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.

In 2020, a French court convicted 14 people accused of being accomplices in the 2015 Islamic State terror attacks in Paris against the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket. The attacks, claimed jointly by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, left 17 people dead along with three gunmen.

In 2024, a 15-year-old student opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, killing a fellow student and a teacher. The shooter also died.

Today’s Birthdays:

Artist Edward Ruscha is 88.
Actor Liv Ullmann is 87.
CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 84.
Pop singer Benny Andersson (ABBA) is 79.
Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 76.
Actor Benjamin Bratt is 62.
Filmmaker James Mangold is 62.
Actor-comedian JB Smoove is 60.
Actor Miranda Otto is 58.
Astrophysicist Adam Reiss is 56.
Actor Krysten Ritter is 44.
Singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno is 44.
Actor Theo James is 41.
Actor Anna Popplewell is 37.
Actor Stephan James is 32.
Pop singer Zara Larsson is 28.

On one recent cold morning, visitors to the Rondo Community Library in St. Paul were greeted with a sign on the front door that said: “Rondo Library will be closed Dec. 15.”

News that the troubled library is closing temporarily for renovations has some patrons and city officials worried about the loss of an important community center at University Avenue and Dale Street.

The St. Paul Public Library is using $793,000 to renovate the facility by moving restrooms farther into the entrance while moving the front desk farther up. Library Director Maureen Hartman said the renovations will help the library feel more welcoming.

“Right now, there’s a bit of a gap before you get to the library space itself. And so the area doesn’t always feel like a library,” Hartman said. “So we want to make sure that when folks come into the library, that they’re immediately understanding that it’s the library and that they can get connected to resources.”

Library system spokesperson Stacy Opitz said the renovation is currently in the design phase and there will be a timeline for construction when a general contractor is selected.

Library officials said staff from Rondo will move to the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, at 270 N. Kent St., on Jan. 3.  There, patrons can get books, DVDs and computer services.

While the renovations are meant to improve the library, City Council Member Anika Bowie didn’t agree with the closing.

At a recent budget hearing, Bowie, whose district includes the library, said the renovations weren’t worth shutting down the building.

“I do want to make it very clear about this library renovation process. I’ve been disappointed with the lack of collaboration from the start. It’s been really challenging to convey the impacts of the closing of Rondo Library,” Bowie said.​

Union leader Isaac Mielke, who heads the AFSCME unit that represents library staff, said Rondo workers and the community have felt left out of the conversation.

“Library staff’s main concern with the renovation is that the staff who actually work at Rondo and know the building and the community have not been involved in the process, and they’re not being listened to. And, frankly, neither is the community,” Mielke said.

Nehemiah Dacres, a St. Paul resident who lives near the library, said he’s not sure how the renovations will help.

“I’m not sure exactly how changing that will make it more approachable. Unless you literally make it so it’s a walk-in restroom with no door, then you can make it,” Dacres said. “I guess that’s really part of the other issue is that I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

Dacres uses the library to rent DVDs and enjoys volunteering at the Rondo Library Black History Month events. He said the library is also conveniently close for biking.

The Rondo Library has had a series of challenges after disruptions associated with the 2020 pandemic and the unrest that followed the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.  From 2021 to 2022, it received one-fourth of the St. Paul library system’s internal incident calls to police.

Later in 2023, the library staff implemented library safety specialists, who offer security and outreach. This summer, the building dropped Saturday and Sunday hours due to public safety concerns and low staffing.

Dr. Artika Tyner, an author who uses the building for book reading events, said the safety issues go back further than 2025.

“Librarians should be able to assist me with research. They shouldn’t be knocking on the bathroom doors and trying to stop drug use. That’s not a library,” Tyner said.

Bowie and Tyner said they want more communication from the library staff about the renovations and how the design will improve safety.

Lynn Overvoorde, a Minneapolis resident, said she didn’t know the library was shutting down. She sometimes comes to the library with her 11-month-old daughter.

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Overvoorde doesn’t feel unwelcome with the current entrance, but she hopes it doesn’t shut down for long.

“I like the space as it is. I mean, I don’t feel unwelcome, I like that there is someone at the door greeting us, the staff are really friendly,” Overvoorde said.

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and MIKE BALSAMO

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police are set to present a case to prosecutors Tuesday following Nick Reiner’s arrest in the killings of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

Prosecutors are set to decide whether and how to charge 32-year-old Nick Reiner, who is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Representatives for the Reiner family did not respond to requests for comment, and it wasn’t clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Police haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings.

Investigators believe Rob and Michele Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family. Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner’s 1990 film “Misery,” was among those paying tribute to the couple.

“I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

“Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner,” he said in a statement. “They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.”

Three months ago, Nick Reiner was photographed with his parents and siblings at the premiere of his father’s film “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.”

He had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored — and seemed to improve — their relationship through the making of the 2016 film, “Being Charlie.”

Nick Reiner co-wrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’”

Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Few Good Men.”

He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of “When Harry Met Sally…,” and their meeting would inspire the film’s shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner’s closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year’s Eve.

The Reiners were outspoken advocates for liberal causes and major Democratic donors.

President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

___

Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.

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