The Strongman Doctrine

Trump’s New Narrative Projects Strength, but the Arctic Reveals the Contradictions

On a tense Friday evening, August 1, 2025, at 11:10 PM CEST, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he had ordered two U.S. nuclear submarines to reposition to “appropriate regions.” The move, a sharp retort to “foolish and inflammatory” remarks by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and deputy chairman of its Security Council, escalates U.S.-Russia tensions. Simultaneously, Trump’s administration is pushing to reclassify greenhouse gases as non-hazardous, a policy Swedish climate expert Mattias Goldmann decried as utterly misguided. These actions signal a bold shift toward American unilateralism—projecting strength against adversaries while sidelining multilateral cooperation. The Arctic, a rising geopolitical flashpoint, emerges as the crucible where Trump’s nuclear signals and climate denial collide, challenging global stability and reshaping security for Europe.