WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It wasn’t so long ago that President Donald Trump spoke of building a legacy as a “peacemaker.”

His administration would measure “success not only by the battles we win,” Trump said in his inaugural address, “but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

But nine months into his second go-round in the White House, Trump is beating a curious path to executing his “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda, a phrase he borrowed from a fellow Republican president, Ronald Reagan, who saw building a strong military and economy as the bedrock to Soviet deterrence.

Trump's take on the Reagan doctrine includes sharper threats, bombings and no shortage of bravado.

It’s too soon to tell how history will judge Trump’

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