grew up in the 1980s, when conservatism was cool". He is in favor of limited government at home and American leadership abroad, believing America should be "the world’s policeman". Boot was one of the earliest proponents of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. In October 2001, in an article titled "The Case for American Empire", he proposed that the USA must greatly increase its military engagement against other countries and compared his proposal to invade Afghanistan and Iraq with the American role in defeating Nazi Germany. He wrote: Once Afghanistan has been dealt with, America should turn its attention to Iraq ... Once we have deposed Saddam, we can impose an American-led, international regency in Baghdad, to go along with the one in Kabul ... It is a matter of self defense: [Saddam] is currently working to acquire weapons of mass destruction that he or his confederates will unleash against America ... To turn Iraq into a beacon of hope for the oppressed peoples of the Middle East ... This could be the chance to right the scales, to establish the first Arab democracy, and to show the Arab people that America is committed to freedom for them. Boot is a strong supporter of Israel and opposed the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. He wrote in 2008 that "the reason Israelis aren't dismantling the settlements (and that President Bush isn't pressing them to do so) has nothing to do with the views of American Jewish groups and everything to do with the dismal record of recent Israeli concessions in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. In both cases (as well as at the Camp David negotiations in 2000) Israelis thought that territorial concessions would lead to peace. Instead they led to the empowerment of terrorists." In 2017 Boot supported President Trump's controversial decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem saying "he got this one right. My only complaint is that this move is more symbolic than substantive". In 2011, Boot supported the NATO-led military intervention in Libya. In 2015 and 2016, Boot was a campaign advisor to Marco Rubio for the 2016 United States presidential primaries and strongly opposed Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy. Boot said in March 2016 that he would "sooner vote for Josef Stalin than he would vote for Donald Trump". In August 2016, after Trump won the nomination, he became highly