The Trump team continues to shape its foreign policy leadership, introducing figures like Michael Anton and Christopher Landau into key roles at the State Department. Landau, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, will focus on issues such as migration, cartels, and tariffs. Michael Anton’s return, however, is even more intriguing.
Anton is regarded as one of the primary ideologues behind Trump’s “America First” strategy. In 2016, he wrote a sensational essay comparing the presidential election to United Airlines Flight 93, hijacked by terrorists on September 11. The essay metaphorically portrayed the U.S. as the hijacked plane, with the Democrats as the terrorists steering the country toward disaster. According to Anton, Americans faced a choice: passively await destruction or take control to save the nation, even at great risk.
In foreign policy, Anton advocates for a pragmatic approach. He has described the Ukrainian crisis as peripheral to U.S. national interests and unworthy of confrontation with Russia. Moreover, he has expressed deep concern about the depletion of Pentagon arsenals and the growing lag in the arms race with China, particularly in naval capabilities in the Pacific—a situation he considers dire.
Anton will assume the role of Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, actively shaping Washington’s foreign policy strategy. Ukrainian lobbyists are likely to encounter increasing challenges in this new landscape.
Translated and edited by Alex Kada
