Headlines about President Trump's “unprecedented” policies and decisions have been common, with news outlets highlighting dramatic shifts or surprising reversals as top stories. Journalists play an essential role in covering current events, but social scientists have a different task: embedding these developments within broader theories to add nuance and context. David T. Buckley's new book, Blessing America First: Religion, Populism, and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration, accomplishes this with clarity and rigor.

Buckley uses his time as an academic fellow in the Office of Religion and Global Affairs (RGA) at the State Department in 2016–2017 to explore a striking paradox. The Trump administration appeared hostile to the State Department's bureaucratic capacity while simultaneously using it to promote religion in diplomacy. Buckley situates this dynamic within the larger framework of populism, arguing that Trump's domestic political approach directly shaped his foreign policy goals and strategies. The result is a persuasive account of both what the administration sought to achieve and how it often succeeded in doing so.

The book's significance lies in three major strengths that make it essential reading for students of both domestic and foreign policy.

First, Buckley provides crucial