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Donald Trumps inaugural address produced yet another torrent of commentary about his populist, isolationist ideology and what it means for the future of the republic and the world. Unfortunately, he is all about neither of those things.

Its true that he deployed the voice of a demagogue to rant about elites and powerful politicians and repeatedly evoked the people. But considering that his hires includesix Goldman Sachs alums, three billionaires and several more vastly wealthy multimillionaires for his Cabinet, his alleged populism seems a bit strained. After all, to the extent thehellscape he described in that speech exists, it was created by the very people he is now empowering.

Calling Trump anisolationist rests mostly on his use of the archaic term America First, which was associated with attempts to keep America out of World War II (and also came with strong undercurrents of anti-Semitism.) But there is no evidence that Trump had a clue about that association when he started using the phrase.

Recall that whenjournalist Michael Wolff interviewed himin June, just before the big vote in the U.K., Trump clearly hadnt heard of Brexit.Granted, he subsequently become fast friends with Brexit architect and right-wing provocateur Nigel Farage. But his idea of isolationism in this case is a simplistic belief that any nation run by smart guys can make better deals without having other countries represented at the table.

As far as security is concerned,Trumps threats to withdraw from NATOand other alliances arentreally about wanting to pull America to remainwithin its borders. He never says that. In fact, he wants a huge military and wants to show it offso everyone in the world will be in awe of American power. He just wants NATO and other alliances to pay protection money to the U.S. for whatever price he sets.

Trump has repeatedly made the fatuous claim that hes going to make the military so massive that no one will ever want to mess with us but never has actually suggested that he would have any reluctance to use it. Indeed,hes made it clear that he intends to do just that, telling his rowdy crowds during the campaign:

ISIS is making a tremendous amount of money because of the oil that they took away, they have some in Syria, they have some in Iraq, I would bomb the shit out of them.

I would just bomb those suckers, and thats right, Id blow up the pipes. Id blow up the refineries. Id blow up ever single inch. There would be nothing left.

And you know what, youll get Exxon to come in there, and in two months you ever see these guys? How good they are, the great oil companies.Theyll rebuild it brand new. . . . And Ill take the oil.

This has been his promise from Day One. Yesterday, press secretary Sean Spicer, reacting to Russian reports that the U.S. military was already engaged with Russiasforces in bombing Syria, offered up this startling answer:

Spicer: I know its still developing and I would refer you back to the Department of Defense. I know that theyre theyre currently monitoring this and I would refer you back to them on that. And I think . . .

Question: Generally open?

Spicer: I think, the president has been very clearly. [sic] Hes gonna work with any country that shares our interest in defeating ISIS. Not just on the national security front, but on the economic front. If we can work with someone to create greater market access and spur economic growth and allow U.S. small businesses and companies to. . .

Question:[inaudible] to doing joint military actions with Russia in Syria?

Spicer: I I think if theres a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether its Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure well take it.

The Pentagon adamantly deniedthat the U.S. military was currently helping Russia in Syria, where the Russian military has beenaccused by the U.N. of committing war crimesby using bunker-busting and incendiary bombs on civilian populations.Spicer didnt mention any of that, but Trump is undoubtedly unconcerned since his strategy is the same: Bomb the shit out of them.

As for taking the oil, which is a suggestion Trump has repeated for months (including as recently as Saturday when he told the CIA officials they might get another chance at it) even conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer was taken aback, correctly noting that seizing the oil is a war crime.

If you have listened to Trump talk about China over the past 18 months, it is clear that he is not simply talking about a potential trade war but is prepared to confront the worlds largest nation militarily. In his confirmation hearings, secretary of state-designate Rex Tillerson made it clear that he agreed with Trump that the U.S. would not allow China to build military bases on islands in the South China Sea, and Spicer made that official yesterday:

I think the U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there. If those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country.

Does that sound like any definition of isolationism youve ever heard?

When Donald Trump says America First, he really means Were No. 1. He talks incessantly about winning, so much well be begging him to stop. He openly declares that he believes in the old sayingto the victors belong the spoils, either suggesting that he has no clue about the Wests colonial past and how that sounds to people around the world or simply doesnt care. Hes not talking about isolationism but the exact opposite American global dominance without all those messy institutions and international agreements standing in the way of taking what we want.

No, Trump is not an isolationist. Hes not a realist. Neither is he a liberal interventionist or a neoconservative idealist. Hes an old-fashioned imperialist. He wants to Make America great again by making it the worlds dominant superpower, capable ofbullying other countries into submission and behaving however we like. He doesnt seem to understand that the world wont put up with that.

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Donald Trump, imperialist: Forget isolationism Trump longs to build up our military and then use it - Salon