Historian and retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor stated that under Trump’s presidency, the United States will reject its role as the world’s policeman and begin focusing on its myriad problems at home.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Neoconservatives and liberals who oppose Donald Trump will seek to foment an atmosphere of conflict while seeking to block the next US president’s efforts to reform American politics, analysts told Sputnik.

“The neocons/left are furious. They will cultivate hatred and violence against Trump and white Americans, along with hard-working Asian-Americans — just wait and see,” historian and retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor said Wednesday.

Macgregor, a leading military tactician and decorated veteran of the Gulf War in 1991, believes such attempts by Trump’s foes will be focused in large US cities.

“Like the French aristocracy in 1789, Washington’s self-anointed ruling elite never grasped Trump’s message and the power of his appeal to American nationalism,” he argued.

Those same elites thought Americans’ sense of national identity had been subsumed by consumerism, but now they are confronting its revival, according to Macgregor.

“They fail to understand that Trump’s victory is more than a turning point in American history; it is the leading edge of a nationalist movement that rejects multiculturalism, nihilism and Marxism,” he said.

Macgregor predicted that under Trump’s presidency, the United States will reject its role as the world’s policeman and begin focusing on its myriad problems at home.

“America will now turn inward to sort out itself. It is long overdue but it will be painful,” he said.

Trump’s push in this direction will be met with economic, political and social challenges from administration adversaries, both domestic and foreign, Macgregor asserted.

“However, the power of American nationalism will prevail: Revolutions are born of hope,” he stated.

Ivan Eland, director of the Independent Institute’s Center on Peace and Liberty, cautioned that Trump will face formidable opposition from established interests determined to thwart his agenda.

“The problem Trump will have is that Washington, with many previous ‘outsider’ presidential candidates including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, is very resistant to change,” he said.

Even presidents regarded as icons, such as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, saw their windows of opportunity for reform close before drastic change could be effected, Eland asserted.

“If history is any guide, Trump will have a limited time to get his major policies promulgated before the ‘change’ window closes,” he predicted. “Since he doesn't have much political experience, he will now need to hire people who do, and quickly.”

To succeed, Trump must identify a few top priorities and select administration aides who can help advance them, Eland advised.

“Other businessman-presidents have had trouble adapting to the politics of the system rapidly — such as Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter. Hopefully, Trump will be more like Reagan, who had political experience but not in Washington,” he added.

When Reagan took office in 1981, he hired veteran Washington insiders who were adept at making the “sticky” political machinery of the US capital work, Eland explained.