I will not say that the abdication is permanent. We had one election in the United States with an extraordinary outcome.
I believe that the presidential election of 2020 is much more important than the presidential election of 2016, because by 2020 the American people will have all the information they need to assess the benefits and the costs of this sharp reversal of American foreign policy and diplomacy. I think it is entirely possible that the American people will decide that the costs, including the moral and reputational costs, far exceed the benefits, and that it serves us very poorly to play the victim and complain that other liberal democracies are taking advantage of us.
Is this a permanent abdication? The jury is out. Is it a temporary abdication? Yes, it is. I hope very much that countries like Canada will step forward to fill the breach.