Donald Trump will declare an end to nation-building if elected president, replacing it with what aides described as ‘‘foreign policy realism’’ focused on destroying the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.
In a speech the Republican presidential nominee was scheduled to deliver Monday in Ohio, Trump will argue that the country needs to work with anyone who shares that mission, regardless of other ideological and strategic disagreements. Any country that wants to work with the United States to defeat ‘‘radical Islamic terrorism’’ will be a US ally, he is expected to say.
‘‘Mr. Trump’s speech will explain that while we can’t choose our friends, we must always recognize our enemies,’’ Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said ahead of the speech.
Trump is also expected to outline a new immigration policy proposal under which the United States would stop issuing visas in any case where it cannot perform adequate screenings.
It will be the third iteration of a policy that began with Trump’s unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country — a religious test that was criticized across party lines as un-American. In a speech after the Orlando nightclub shooting, Trump introduced a new standard, vowing to ‘‘suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats.’’
Now, aides say, the campaign needs access to undisclosed government documents to assess exactly where the most serious threats lie.
He is also expected to propose creating a new ideological test for admission to the country that would assess a candidate’s stances on issues such as religious freedom, gender equality, and gay rights. Through questionnaires, searching social media, or other means, applicants would be vetted to see whether they support US values like tolerance and pluralism.