At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. attempted to expand its international activism under Presidents Clinton and Bush, a foreign policy contrary to the country’s traditional proclivity for isolationism and neutrality. To varying degrees, the policies of both Presidents followed an idealist, liberal agenda rather the realism that normally guided U.S. leaders. By 2008, the failures of Clinton’s humanitarian intervention efforts and Bush’s nation-building attempts heightened the urgency of a foreign policy of restraint and disengagement. President Obama tried to implement a more reduced U.S. role in international politics by withdrawing forces from Iraq and by rebalancing toward Asia. Under President Trump, the U.S. will continue to withdraw from world events placing the liberal international order created in the western image at risk and generating a level of uncertainty that will have long term repercussions.