As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House next month, what sort of foreign policy can Americans expect during his second stint in the Oval Office?

Trump will pursue an "America first foreign policy," J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, suggested during an interview with Fox News Digital, describing Biden's approach as "America last."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is advocating for the soon-to-be commander in chief to significantly increase military spending in a bid to build up the nation's "hard power."

The long-serving lawmaker is also warning against an isolationist approach to foreign policy, asserting in a piece on Foreign Affairs that "the response to four years of weakness must not be four years of isolation."

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"Trump would be wise to build his foreign policy on the enduring cornerstone of U.S. leadership: hard power. To reverse the neglect of military strength, his administration must commit to a significant and sustained increase in defense spending, generational investments in the defense industrial base, and urgent reforms to speed the United States’ development of new capabilities and to expand allies’ and partners’ access to them," McConnell contended.

"To pretend that the United States can focus on just one threat at a time, that its credibility is divisible, or that it can afford to shrug off faraway chaos as irrelevant is to ignore its global interests and its adversaries’ global designs," he argued.

Waller, who authored the book "Big Intel," explained that America-first foreign policy does not mean isolationism. 

"It means for the United States to define its national interests very strictly," without suggesting that every crisis around the globe is "of vital, existential interest to our country," he noted.

Waller opined that in Foreign Affairs McConnell was seeking to "maintain the uniparty consensus for the United States' present global commitments that are stretching us beyond our means … without even stepping back to reassess what is really in our national interests and how can we best marshal our resources to ensure them."

Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to request comment from McConnell, but did not receive a response.

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Trump has tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for secretary of state, a choice Waller graded as a "really good pick." 

Regarding the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, Rubio has said that the U.S. is funding a "stalemate war."

Trump has called for a ceasefire.

"There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," he declared in a post on Truth Social.

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Trump has also called for the release of hostages in the Middle East, warning in a post on Truth Social that if they are not released by when he assumes office, "there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America," he declared.

President-elect Donald Trump is gearing up for his second White House term just weeks after the abrupt toppling of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria— a pivotal moment that could test Trump's long-held promises to end U.S. involvement in so-called "forever wars" in the Middle East or putting more American boots on the ground in these countries.

With roughly six weeks to go before he takes office, Trump does not appear to be backing down on his promises of pursuing a foreign policy agenda directed toward prioritizing issues at home and avoiding entanglements overseas.

However, Trump's promises about ending U.S. military commitments abroad could be tested in Syria, where conditions in the country are now vastly different from Trump's first term — creating a government seen as ripe for exploitation by other foreign powers, including governments or terrorist groups.

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"This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved," Trump said on Truth Social over the weekend, as rebel-backed fighters advanced into Damascus, forcing Assad to flee to Moscow for safe haven. 

Trump, for his part, has acknowledged the foreign policy situation he stands to inherit in 2025 could be more complex than he saw in his first term, especially in the Middle East. 

It "certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now," Trump told leaders earlier this week in Paris, where he attended a grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Here is a rundown of what Trump did in Syria in 2019 and how his actions could be insufficient today.

In Syria, the speed at which rebel forces successfully wrested back control of major cities and forced Assad to flee to Moscow for safe haven took many by surprise, including analysts and diplomats with years of experience in the region. 

It is currently an "open question" who is currently in charge in Syria, White House National Security communications advisor John Kirby told reporters earlier this week. 

However, the rebel-led group that ousted Assad is currently designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., raising fresh uncertainty over whether Trump might see their rise to power as a threat to U.S. national security and whether he might move to position U.S. troops in response.

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The conditions are also ripe for exploration by other governments and adversaries, which could seize on the many power vacuums created by the collapse of Assad's regime. 

In the days following Assad's flight to Moscow, senior Biden administration officials stressed that the U.S. will act only in a supporting capacity, telling reporters, "We are not coming up with a blueprint from Washington for the future of Syria."

"This is written by Syrians. The fall of Assad was delivered by Syrians," the administration official said. 

Still, this person added, "I think it’s very clear that the United States can provide a helping hand, and we are very much prepared to do so." It's unclear whether Trump will see the situation the same.

In October 2019, Trump announced the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, news that came under sharp criticism by some diplomats and foreign policy analysts, who cited fears that the decision risked destabilizing one of the only remaining stable parts of Syria and injecting further volatility and uncertainty into the war-torn nation. 

However, at the time, that part of the country was stable. U.S. troops were stationed there alongside British and French troops, who worked alongside the Syrian Defense Force to protect against a resurgence of Islamic State activity. However, the situation is different now, something that Trump's team does not appear to be disputing, for its part.

Additionally, while seeking the presidency in 2024, Trump continued his "America first" posture that many believe helped him win the election in 2016 — vowing to crack down on border security, job creation, and U.S. oil and gas production, among other things — incoming Trump administration officials have stressed the degree to which they've worked alongside the Biden administration to ensure a smooth handover when it comes to geopolitical issues.

Unlike his first White House transition, Trump's preparations for a second presidential term have been remarkably detailed, efficient and policy oriented. That includes announcing nominations for most Cabinet positions and diplomats, and releasing policy blueprints for how the administration plans to govern over the next four years.  

"For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong, and we… we are hand in glove," Trump's pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News in an interview following Trump's election in November. "We are one team with the United States in this transition."

The Biden administration has renewed a controversial sanctions waiver that will allow Iran access to some $10 billion in payments from Iraq – an action that came just two days after President-elect Trump emerged victorious on Election Day.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken again extended the waiver for humanitarian trade, which permits Iran to access accounts in Iraq and Oman. However, Republican critics have said that allowing the Iranian regime access to these funds frees up money Iran can use to support terrorism in the Middle East or advance its nuclear program.

"On November 7th, the department did renew Iraq's electricity waiver for the 23rd time since 2018. It was done so for an additional 120 days," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed last week. 

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"We remain committed to reducing Iran's malign influence in the region. Our viewpoint is that a stable, sovereign and secure Iraq is critical to these efforts," he added, pointing out that this sanctions waiver began in 2018 during the first Trump administration. 

Congress has passed several sanctions targeting Iran that give the president authority to temporarily suspend, or "waive" the sanctions if the president determines doing so is in the interests of U.S. national security. 

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The waiver is set to expire after Trump takes office in January. It is unclear whether the Trump administration would again extend the sanctions relief. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, argued Tuesday that the sanctions waiver allows Iran to fund proxy terror groups that have attacked U.S. forces in the Middle East.

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"The House voted to eliminate these waiver authorities — twice. But the Biden administration is still waiving the sanctions, putting more money in the Iranian regime’s pockets to fund its terrorist proxies and nuclear weapons program," McCaul posted on X. 

"The U.S. should not be subsidizing Iran’s malign activities." 

In the waning days of the Biden administration, President-elect Trump is bucking his predecessor's "don't" doctrine as a deterrent to foreign adversaries, instead issuing tough warnings before even taking office. 

"If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity," Trump warned Hamas on his Truth Social account Monday. 

"Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!" Trump added. 

War broke out in the Middle East on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. Terrorists killed more than 1,100 people and kidnapped more than 200, with Hamas still holding 101 hostages, including seven Americans, in Gaza more than a year after the war began. 

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The White House and Israeli government have worked for months to secure a hostage release deal, but have been unsuccessful. 

Trump's tough language against Hamas, which included warning those responsible for holding the hostages that they "will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America," stands in stark contrast to President Biden's "don't" doctrine regarding the war in Israel. 

After the war began last year, Biden delivered remarks from Israel where he warned adversaries of Israel and the U.S. "don't" attack Israel. 

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"And my message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t," he said. 

War continued despite the warning, including from Iranian proxies against Israel. 

This year, Biden doubled down on his warning of "don't" aimed at Iran. When asked by reporters about Iran's expectation to attack Israel in April, he said his message to Tehran is: "Don't." 

"We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed," he added. 

Again in August, Biden warned Iran against attacking Israel with the one-word threat.  

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Biden's common response to deter foreign adversaries from attacking Israel is viewed as a failed policy, with conservative security experts and others slamming the message as weak. 

"The Administration keeps saying 'don't' to Iran – but then does nothing to impose costs. This weakness means the risk from Iran continues to grow," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in August. 

"Well, he said, ‘Don’t’ multiple times, and ‘Don’t’ isn’t a national security policy," Pompeo added later in a comment to Fox News. "It’s not even a deterrent.

"So much for President Biden telling bad guys ‘Don’t’ actually being an effective deterrent. Every time he says 'Don’t,' they do," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote in a post in April, after Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. 

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"Biden's approach with Iran and the Middle East is backwards," Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on X. "Now as we risk entering WWIII, the US must stand by Israel's commitment to democracy. The president must stand firm, and stop coddling Iran immediately."

"I guess Biden's speechwriters have him down to one word now. At least he can remember it. Worse when referring to the hospital carnage he calls Hamas the other team," Fox News' Greg Gutfeld quipped after the war in Israel broke out last year, mocking Biden's use of the word "don't." 

Trump had campaigned on ending the wars in both Ukraine and Israel, both of which began under the Biden administration, and claimed that neither war would have been launched if he had been president. 

"The Ukraine situation is so horrible, the Israeli situation is so horrible. We are going to get them solved very fast," Trump said on the campaign trail in January. 

Israeli officials celebrated Trump's tough stance against terrorists in the Middle East and his demand for hostages to be released by next month. 

"Thank you and bless you Mr. President-elect," President Isaac Herzog of Israel said in a post on social media. "We all pray for the moment we see our sisters and brothers back home!"

The nation's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, added, "How refreshing it is to hear clear and morally sound statements that do not create a false equivalence or call for addressing ‘both sides.’ This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands."

Trump will be inaugurated as the nation's 47th president on Jan. 20, with his team celebrating that he's already following through on his campaign promises. 

"President Trump is working towards international peace. In anticipation of the incoming Trump administration, Iran has called off its reprisal attack on Israel and negotiations to end the war in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine have accelerated. One former NATO Supreme Allied Commander says America's enemies are 'concerned, they're nervous – [and] they ought to be,'" the Trump War Room said in an email this week titled "Promises Kept – And President Trump Hasn't Even Been Inaugurated Yet."

EXCLUSIVE: A group of former United Nations officials fed up with its inefficiency launched "DOGE-UN," an investigative effort that will highlight waste by the world body.

The effort, similar to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will culminate in a report online ahead of the 2026 secretary-general selection, in hopes that the next leader will prioritize making the agency run more efficiently. 

"Why stop at this country’s federal agencies?" said Hugh Dugan, a longtime member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. and former National Security Council adviser on international organizations.

"We need to centralize our understanding of our cash flow to and from the U.N. and the results we'd like to see from our participation in international organizations," he told Fox News Digital. 

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Dugan is working with a group of former presidents of the U.N. General Assembly who meet regularly to discuss agency issues. He’s recruited "insiders and outsiders who used to be insiders" to identify where the U.N. is ineffective at its mission and where funds are going to waste. 

"Unfortunately, the mindset there over the years prefers to look at outputs over outcomes," said Dugan. "How many meetings did we hold, how many pencils did we buy, instead of outcomes. Like, was there an opportunity to get peace underway more quickly in conflict settings, or to what extent are we ameliorating the rate of hunger in the world?" 

Dugan says his team will ask two questions: "Is the U.N. working?" and "Is it working for us?" 

The U.N. has an Office of Internal Oversight Services, but unlike the inspectors general for other government agencies, that office is internal, not independent, Dugan pointed out. 

Last month, a former high-ranking U.N. official was ordered to pay back $59 million the agency lost in deals he made with a British businessman who gave him interest-free loans, a Mercedes and other gifts for his sons. 

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"Usually, there is no consequence for bad behavior, and that's a rare thing that they caught this one," said Dugan. 

He recalled the U.N.’s oil-for-food program, where former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein siphoned off more than $10 billion through illegal oil smuggling, according to a 2004 CIA report. 

"I'm hoping this will serve to really crack open this dark chamber there that seems to just perpetuate itself on the goodwill of the charter, but actual performance is not serving the peoples of the world."

Founded with a mission to promote global peace, development and respect for human rights after World War II, the U.N. relies on the U.S. for about a third of its budget. President Biden increased U.S. financial contributions to the U.N. and its sister agencies, boosting it from $11.6 billion in 2020 to $18.1 billion in 2022.

The U.S. gave about three times as much that year as the next-highest contributors, Germany, at $6.8 billion and Japan, at $2.7 billion. 

That amount of funding gives a new administration wiggle room to withhold funds to the U.N. if its global interests do not align with those of the U.S., a notion some Republicans have already pushed for.

President-elect Trump will be in office when the international body elects its next secretary-general in 2026, and the U.S. will have veto power over any candidate. 

The U.N. particularly relies on the U.S. for global aid programs. 

In 2022, it provided half of all contributions to the World Food Programme, and about a third of all contributions to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the International Organization for Migration.

Dugan said his report would also highlight ways to prevent China from "hijacking" the U.N. "deep state" to divert aid for its own Belt and Road Initiative.

China doubled the number of its nationals employed at the U.N. to nearly 15,000 from 2009 to 2021. 

Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their efforts for DOGE in a Nov. 20 Wall Street Journal op-ed: "The DOGE Plan to Reform Government."

They said they would focus on driving change through "executive action based on existing legislation" rather than "passing new laws." They would work to claw back regulations put forth by government agencies that were never passed by Congress, backed by newfound authority under the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022), which stated agencies can’t impose regulations that touch on major economic or policy questions unless Congress allows them to do so. 

Former Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that there is a "climate emergency," and suggested that Africans without electricity must select "the right kinds of electricity," likely referring to green energy production, and that the U.S. must help them to afford it.

Kerry made the comments at a speaking event at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics on Thursday.

The Democrat suggested there will be a need to "declare a climate emergency, which is what we really have. And we need to get people to behave as if this really is a major transitional challenge to the whole planet."

He noted that the U.S. has the biggest economy on earth, with China in second place.

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"Adios comunista," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X when replying to a post featuring a clip of Kerry's comments.

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Kerry, a former senator and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee who lost to incumbent Republican President George W. Bush, went on to serve as secretary of state during a portion of President Obama's White House tenure.

He has also previously served as special presidential envoy for climate under President Biden. 

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Biden awarded Kerry the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this year.

A Texas Democrat believes President-elect Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexico will get the country to come to the table "so we can solve the problem about immigration and fentanyl." 

Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas’ 28th Congressional District – which borders Mexico in the southern part of the state – made the comment Tuesday during an interview on NewsNation. 

"If it means a 25 percent tariff to potentially fix the border, would you favor that?" Cuellar was asked. 

"Well, let me put it this way: Laredo’s the largest port; we handle 40 percent of all the trade between the U.S. and Mexico. I know this is a way to negotiate, get some leverage. I know that Mexico will come to the table," he responded. 

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"But nobody wants a 25 percent tariff on them, and the Mexicans are threatening to do the same thing, and we don’t want to get into that," Cuellar added. "But I think this will definitely get Mexico to the table so we can solve the problem about immigration and fentanyl." 

Trump has vowed to impose tariffs on Mexico when he returns to the White House in January. 

"As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. "Right now a Caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people, seems to be unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border."

"On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!" Trump continued. 

"Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem," he declared. "We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!" 

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A source told Reuters that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a "good discussion" with Trump regarding trade and border security following that Truth Social post.

Trump also said Monday, "I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail."

"Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America," he added.

In response to that, the China Daily newspaper – which is run by the Chinese Communist Party – published an editorial Tuesday saying, "The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is far-fetched," according to Reuters.

The editorial added: "There are no winners in tariff wars. If the U.S. continues to politicize economic and trade issues by weaponizing tariffs, it will leave no party unscathed,"