Donald Trump Needs a Full-Spectrum Strategy for the New Cold War
October 17, 2025
By: Filip Styczynski
In addition to strengthening Ukraine’s military, President Donald Trump can fight Russia and China by strengthening the information outlets that won America the Cold War.
As President Donald Trump edges closer to greenlighting Tomahawk missile shipments to Ukraine—having “sort of made a decision” on the matter last week, with a range that could put Moscow in Kyiv’s crosshairs—the echoes of Ronald Reagan’s masterstroke in the 1980s grow louder.
At the nadir of the Cold War, Reagan didn’t merely arm Afghan mujahideen with Stingers to bleed the Soviet bear. Recognizing that a “hearts and minds” approach was needed beyond the mountains of Afghanistan, he paired lethal aid with a soft-power blitz. Radio Free Europe pierced the Iron Curtain, fueling Poland’s Solidarity movement and stoking a hunger for liberty. While hard power killed soldiers in proxy wars, soft power conquered hearts behind enemy lines. Ultimately, the “Evil Empire” fell not from missiles alone, but from the universal call of freedom.
Today, Trump’s lethal aid—long-range Tomahawks to shred Russia’s paper tiger military—is a Reagan-esque gut punch to Vladimir Putin. But it is only one hand swinging. Reagan understood the need to supplement missiles with microphones; to win the new Cold War against Russia and China, Trump must revive America’s soft-power arsenal, turning conscripts’ mothers and internal dissidents into allies of freedom.
Soft Power Wins Wars, Too
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trump-needs-a-full-spectrum-strategy-for-the-new-cold-war
