Making America irrelevant

Almost by definition, any treaty or international agreement will not be perfect in the eyes of any particular signer of that agreement. The goal is to create a balance of interests significant enough that even parties that may disagree on points will see that some individual and mutual improvement can be accomplished by working together.
Our president and the Republican Party have been very critical of the Iran agreement, the Paris climate accord, NATO, NAFTA, the United Nations, and other areas of international cooperation. “Putting America first” seems to mean that we will only agree to deals that strongly favor us.
Why would other countries agree to such deals? The reality is that we are voluntarily abandoning our world leadership position in trade, climate, and military alliances.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is delighted with this direction, of course, because that will leave Russia, China, and Germany as the major players in world politics, with the United States simply out of the loop. Instead of “Mak(ing) America Great Again,” we are making America irrelevant.
Is it hard to understand why Putin favored Trump and the Republicans? Exactly how much and what kind of effort Putin put into his choice of Trump is important to those who care about democracy, but the gain for Putin from Republican positions is obvious.
Gerard H. Weiss
Washington