Beyond the Water's Edge


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- Beyond the Water's Edge -

Trump Voters Love American Power, See It as Key to Fulfilling Campaign Promises

For the fifth month in a row, The Vandenberg Coalition and GOP polling firm TargetPoint surveyed a sample of Trump voters to gauge their perspectives on salient foreign policy challenges. President Trump’s foreign policy remains very popular with his voters, but they especially approve when he takes tough action against our adversaries. 86 percent of Trump voters support his peace plan to end the Israel-Hamas war, and 90 percent continue to state the importance of not letting Iran obtain a nuclear weapon. Trump’s base is still vigilant about the TikTok threat; 92 percent of respondents maintain concerns about TikTok following the announcement of the deal between the Trump administration and ByteDance. Additionally, 76 percent of respondents indicating that they support sanctioning Russian energy exports—a consistent figure dating back to June 2025.

You can read about the poll on our website, and in our newsletter. Be sure to follow us on X to not miss new monthly results!

2025 National Security Media Fellowship

Last week, we completed our third annual National Security Media Fellowship, where we bring together top foreign policy thinkers and up-and-coming national security journalists to share expertise, give insights on the workings of government, and ensure a deeper connection between national security practitioners and those who report on them.

Our fellowship class convened in downtown Washington, D.C. for a series of private, on-the-record briefings from some of the nation’s foremost experts—including several Vandenberg Advisory Board members—on a range of issues tailored to both the present and future of U.S. foreign policy and national security. We look forward to see what our fellows accomplish in the future!

Featured

How War in Taiwan Ends

TVC Advisory Board Member Zack Cooper | Foreign Affairs | November 6, 2025

Bottom Line: The biggest challenge for the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy is not whether it allocates resources to a strategy of denial but how it integrates denial and punishment into a holistic deterrence framework. Without a plan for terminating a war, Washington would risk repeating the pattern of U.S. strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan that many Trump officials critiqued: winning the first battle but losing the war. If the United States is to deter China, it will have to persuade Chinese leaders that Washington has a strategy not only for the early stages of a conflict but also for the end stage of a war.

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Toppling Maduro Without Boots on the Ground

TVC Advisory Board Member Ryan Berg | Foreign Policy | November 6, 2025

Bottom Line: Multiple permutations of the regime collapse theory exist and could be well worth pursuing despite long odds. That’s especially so given the paucity of alternatives for democratic transition following Venezuela’s brazenly stolen election in July 2024 and Maduro’s subsequent clampdown. Pursuing such a theory of change against the Maduro regime would also fit Trump’s modus operandi, which has featured a pattern of quick-strike actions without the introduction of ground forces or extended engagements.

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Half a Century of Antisemitism at the U.N.

Amb. John Bolton | The Wall Street Journal | November 9, 2025

Bottom Line: The United Nations made the worst mistake in its history, 50 years ago Monday, and it still hasn’t recovered. The General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379, declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” When this resolution was repealed, many felt vindicated, optimistic about the future of Israel in the U.N. system. We were wrong. Antisemitism masquerading as anti-Zionism became perhaps subtler, but its stench remained, its ultimate objectives unchanged.

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With Hezbollah Rearming, Israel Must Heed the Lessons of October 7

Jonathan Rosenstein | New Atlanticist | November 7, 2025

Bottom Line: Emerging from October 7 as a battle-hardened regional superpower, Israel must shift from deterrence by denial to deterrence by punishment. Lebanon’s fragile institutions appear to lack the capacity and the political will to dismantle Hezbollah. Therefore, Israel must be prepared to sustain calibrated military pressure while simultaneously building international legitimacy and regional partnerships to establish a durable security architecture in southern Lebanon. Only by combining military strength, diplomatic coordination, and strategic foresight can Israel prevent another front from exploding—and keep Hezbollah in check for the foreseeable future.

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Trump Deserves Credit for Focus on Nigerian Christians

Nina Shea | National Review | November 10, 2025

Bottom Line: President Trump, often criticized as solely “transactional,” deserves credit for not fudging the facts of persecution in the interest of dealmaking with oil-rich Nigeria. He is upholding religious freedom as a pillar of American foreign policy, drawing attention to an unaddressed security threat and hopefully bringing relief to Nigeria’s Christians.

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