The new liberal order

It was strange to hear an appointee of President Trump use the word "liberal" in a positive context, and for some of Trump's supporters the "new liberal order" proclaimed by Secretary of State Pompeo in Brussels must have promised the worst of both worlds: liberalism combined with the "new world order" of the late President Bush. For them, Pompeo softened the blow by emphasizing that Trump's new order would be founded on national sovereignty rather than bureaucratic multilateralism, but some still must wonder why this has to be "liberal." The best answer is that while Pompeo may have meant to throw a rhetorical bone to the neocons, he mainly was talking about "classical" liberalism, i.e. laissez-faire capitalism. He literally declared for neoliberalism, which differs from neoconservatism in focusing on global markets and an attendant civil society rather than aggressive ideology as liberating forces. Trumpian neoliberalism, to whatever extent the President actually endorses Pompeo's speech, is clearly concerned primarily with extending the global reach of American business, but its exponents  will no doubt indulge in the rhetoric of liberty when it suits them. It's an obvious play when your perceived antagonists -- Russia, China and Iran -- are all perceived as authoritarian powers. But while the Trumpists most likely see Iran as an evil empire, their main concern with Russia, and probably with China as well, is to undermine any claim  of an economic sphere of interest that might exclude American business. Trump himself might have a shot at selling this to his base by saying that the object is more and better paying American jobs. Depending on the occasion, however, almost any talk of any sort of new order may have many Americans wondering whether there was a dime's worth of difference all along between Trumpism and what came before?