Suggested intro: Donald Trump is promising a complete reformulation of American foreign policy if he's elected President this November.
The frontrunner in the race for the Republican Party's nomination said that under President Obama, US foreign policy has become a "complete and total disaster".
He vowed a relentless war against Islamic extremism, but warned America's allies that continued US defense of their interests is contingent upon them paying a fair share of the costs of America's military umbrella.
Meanwhile, one of his main rivals for the Republican Party's Presidential nomination took the unusual step of naming a Vice Presidential running mate.
Our US Bureau Chief Simon Marks reports.
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TRX There is almost no way of putting into words the bizarre nature of the latest events on America' campaign trail.
Let's start with the man of the hour: Donald Trump…who trounced his rivals in the 5 primary contests held on Tuesday and is now within striking distance of winning the Republican Party's Presidential nomination.
Under pressure to stop shooting from the hip and to start sounding Presidential, he delivered what his aides called a major foreign policy address in Washington.
Rarely for him reading from a teleprompter….he sounded about as stilted as he looked.
TAKE TRUMP SOUNDBITE
"I would like to talk today about how to develop a new foreign policy direction for our country. One that replaces randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy, and chaos with peace".
TRX Mr. Trump's central thesis - if that's not too grand a word - is that under Barack Obama America's foreign policy reputation has been trashed and its global standing tarnished.
Hillary Clinton's time at the State Department was dismissed as "reckless, rudderless and aimless".
All of that, Mr. Trump suggested, will come to an end the moment he walks through the door of the Oval Office.
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To all our friends and allies, I say America is going to be strong again. America is going to be a reliable friend and ally again. We're going to finally have a coherent foreign policy based upon American interests, and the shared interests of our allies.
TRX But only those allies who pay the price.
Any treaty partner of the United States who shelters under America's military umbrella will - he suggested - find that umbrella hastily withdrawn if they don't help defray the costs of US defense.
Similarly contradictory: his threat to smash ISIS militarily and deploy ground troops to get the job done….but his claim that he's not a warmonger and understands that "caution and restraint are signs of strength".
If there was any coherence to the speech, it was perhaps contained in this description of the priority that drives him.
TAKE TRUMP SOUNDBITE (Super: Donald Trump, Republician Presidential Contender)
"My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That will be the foundation of every decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration."
VO CAPITOL HILL It's not the first time that phrase has been used in US foreign policy.
Back in the 1930s, "America First" was a movement 800 thousand strong that urged President Franklin Delano Roosevelt not to get involved in the Second World War.
Whether Mr. Trump knows of the isolationist context of the "America First" label is unclear.
We may have to wait for another foreign policy speech - if there is one - to find out.
Revealed on Wednesday….something it's fair to say that very few Americans had been waiting for.
Ted Cruz, who still harbors hopes of halting Donald Trump's march to the Republican Presidential nomination, decided that he should unveil his running mate…..Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard.
It was an odd affair…not least since candidates usually only name a running mate AFTER they've won the nomination.
Odd too, because .bizarrely Ms Fiorina, who won few supporters for her own Presidential bid earlier this year, went into song in accepting Mr. Cruz's offer.
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But by the standards of this Presidential race, that barely rises to the level of weird.
If they're going to stop Donald Trump, Ms. Fiorina and Senator Cruz will just have to do better than that.
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