Trump’s praise of Putin, ‘America First’ view tested by war

By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — From the earliest days of his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump aggressively dismantled pillars of Republican foreign policy. He mocked John McCain’s capture, validated autocrats, questioned longtime military and security alliances and embraced an isolationist worldview. And it worked, resonating with voters who believed, in part, that a bipartisan establishment in Washington brokered trade deals that hurt workers in the U.S. and recklessly stumbled into so-called forever wars. But Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is posing a serious test of Trump’s “America First” philosophy at a moment when the former president is eyeing this year’s midterm elections as an opportunity to keep bending the GOP to his will.