During his short presidency, President Trump has downplayed human rights, preferring to emphasize American economic and military interests abroad. He has sought to develop close ties with autocratic Arab rulers and invited human rights abusers such as Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to the White House. Yet the administration has not totally sidelined human rights concerns, either, as seen in the responses to Syrian chemical weapons attacks.
While his “America First” campaign seemed tailor-made for an emphasis on national interests at the expense of human rights, Trump's ambivalence on human rights also reflects a broader trend among conservatives, who increasingly view human rights suspiciously, seeing their promotion as a liberal ideological project that encompasses an expanding number of rights and undercuts fundamental conservative values. This is evident most clearly in domestic debates, where liberal rights activism has been heavy-handed.
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