When President Donald Trump was elected in 2024, he had a clear mandate from the people: put America first. However, after almost a year in office, Trump has failed to truly foster peace in Ukraine and Gaza. Instead, he has continued to sell weapons to the warmongering governments of Volodymyr Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu. Furthermore, he has violated the sovereignty of Venezuela by authorizing illegal strikes on alleged drug boats, which Sen. Rand Paul has described as a “prelude” to a potential regime-change war. While Donald Trump has stopped some conflicts, that does not make him the “President of Peace,” let alone a worthy namesake for the Institute of Peace (USIP).
Trump did not simply rename the Institute of Peace after himself for no reason. The renaming coincides with leaders from DR Congo and Rwanda officially signing a US-led peace deal to end over three years of fighting at the USIP headquarters. Trump, who campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, was passed over this year. However, brokering peace between DR Congo and Rwanda might bolster his case for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize he so clearly desires. Alternatively, Trump might have simply renamed USIP out of spite.
Currently, USIP and the Trump administration are fighting a contentious battle in federal appeals court. The Trump administration argues that the organization is part of the executive branch and is, therefore, subject to Department of Government Efficiency budget cuts. On the other hand, USIP argues that it is an independent creation of Congress and cannot have its funding cut by the executive.
Regardless of Trump’s reasoning for the rebrand, it is clear that he could do more to actually justify the rebranding. When Republicans overwhelmingly voted for Trump instead of Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary, they rejected the neoconservatism of the GOP establishment. Now, many are wondering if they were sold a lie. The prominence of the “fell for it again” meme on social media perfectly encompasses this sentiment. While Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton are not in the second Trump administration, other neocons like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Mike Huckabee are. This makes it difficult for even the staunchest Trump supporters to argue that neocon influence is not present in the administration.
This matters politically. One of the voting blocs which decided the 2024 election was young voters. In 2024, Trump gained 21 points with youth voters. Now, that support has been squandered with only 29% of young Americans supporting his administration. This decrease in support can be generally attributed to growing conservative opposition to Israel and his administration’s handling of the Epstein Files. To regain youth support, Trump needs to be a genuine President of Peace and completely reject the unpopular, archaic foreign policy priorities of the Bush-era Republican Party.
Simply put, a truly America First, noninterventionist president is required to “Make America Great Again.” When Donald Trump ran in 2015, he challenged neoconservative conceptions about what it meant to be conservative. He even stated that President George W. Bush lied about the Iraq War. Donald Trump has repeatedly sold himself as the Patrick Buchanan for the twenty-first century on the campaign trail. Now, it is time to govern like him. Like Buchanan, President Trump must reject the Israel lobby and European wars if he wants to be the true President of Peace.
If Trump wants to be remembered as the President of Peace, it will take more than stamping his name on the Institute of Peace. It will require him to break away from the hawkish policies he once campaigned against. Ending arms sales to Israel and Ukraine, halting reckless attacks on Venezuela, and using the “art of the deal” to solve conflicts are what a nation tired of forever wars wants. America does not need leaders who are obsessed with prizes and awards. Instead, our nation needs a President who will choose peace whenever possible. Until Trump fully embraces an anti-war foreign policy, the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace” will remain a contradiction.
J.D. Hester is an independent writer born and raised in Arizona. He has previously written for Antiwar.com, Asia Times, The Libertarian Institute, and other websites. You can send him an email at josephdhester@gmail.com. Follow him on X (@JDH3ster).
