IT'S ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES

THESE REPUBLICAN FOREIGN POLICY PRAGMATISTS HOPE TO INFLUENCE DONALD TRUMP WITH THEIR THIRD-WAY APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

- Alex J. Rouhandeh

THEY HAPPILY USE THE LABEL "PRIORITIZERS." Anti-globalist and less willing to support Ukraine than to counter China, millennial and Generation-X lawmakers are shaping a very different Republican foreign policy than the interventionist, old-guard boomer generation personified by the 82-year-old Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Whether or not Donald Trump displaces President Joe Biden in November's election to return to the White House, the GOP will likely continue to war over how to best implement his "America First" agenda.

And the global consequences of their changing policy stance could be far-reaching, from the Middle East to Asia to the Ukrainian battlefield in Europe. So-called Prioritizers, such as 44-year-old Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, nonetheless distinguish themselves from those who fully oppose intervention in global politics, a coalition that has also gained strength.

"The American people are the ones who bear the burden and bear the pain of a foreign policy that is globalist, sometimes imperialist, and refuses to recognize any limits," Hawley told Newsweek. "It's just all about priorities. I've talked to very few voters who are isolationist."

American support for Ukraine's campaign against Russia's invasion has placed Republican Party divisions at the forefront of U.S. politics as advocates for restraint have bucked party leadership's decision to make America a primary figure in the conflict.

Speaker Mike Johnson, 52, who as a rank-and-file lawmaker opposed aiding Ukraine, ultimately listened to McConnell and pledged enough Republican support to advance a bipartisan measure dedicating $61 billion to the war effort, a decision that almost cost him his job after Republican opponents unsuc cessfully filed a motion to trigger his ouster.