What will Donald Trump's priorities on the world stage look like if he returns to the White House next January?

One of the most impactful jobs shaping a president's approach to the outside world is

National Security Advisor.

The holder can sway American foreign and security footprint, a role famously filled by Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.

Someone with a connection to the Trump and Nixon eras is my guest on power play this week. He's the grandson of William Colby, the controversial

director of the CIA between 1973 and 76. Elbridge Colby is a hot tip to be the next national security advisor in a possible new Trump administration.

Welcome to Power Play from Politico, where we talk to some of the world's most

influential people on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm your host, Anne McElvoy.

My guest served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy

and Force development in Donald Trump's first term in office. Since then he's co-founded

the Marathon Initiative, a conservative think tank, intensely focused

on how America deals with an increasingly assertive China, a subject testing both Democrats

and Republicans.

Elbridge Colby, welcome to power play.

Great to be with you.

You served in the first Trump administration at the Pentagon.

You were highly influential, then in shaping the national defense

strategy that was back in 2018 arguing strongly for a tilt to the Pacific

confronting a more assertive China. Six years on, do you still think that

Donald Trump's team would consider this as the principal threat and therefore

the principal focus of what would be a likely tilt again in foreign policy

if there were in fact a change of power in the White House.

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