Donald Trump wants to recreate the world in his image.
While previous American presidents implemented a mixture of diplomacy, overt and covert coercion, and maintained a façade of cordiality with allies, Trump unleashed a barrage of animosity, embarking on an adversarial rampage against both friends and foes.
Though past administrations often pursued aggressive and manipulative geopolitical strategies, they upheld a pretence of decorum. They also contributed credibly to international relations and development through foreign aid programmes such as the Peace Corps and various educational initiatives.
These educational efforts, including the Fulbright-Hays, Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller scholarships, opened doors for foreign students to pursue postgraduate and post-doctoral studies at Ivy League institutions like Harvard, MIT, Juilliard, Cornell, Yale and Columbia. Such programmes brought together talents from across the globe, fostering a vibrant environment for learning, research, and cultural exchange.
The United States was once the artistic capital of the world, hosting world-class exhibitions and performances in the visual and performing arts. Its theatre, dance, and music scenes were dynamic, offering both traditional and avant-garde experiences that nurtured creativity.
It was a beacon of hope for immigrants fleeing conflict zones and ideological persecution. These individuals adapted to the American milieu, contributed to the economy, and enriched the nation’s socio-cultural fabric. The Statue of Liberty stood as a powerful symbol of refuge and salvation, as embodied in the famous inscription:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
America was a socio-ethnic-cultural melting pot, though not without its contradictions. Discrimination against minorities such as Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians persisted. Organisations like the Ku Klux Klan violently enforced white supremacy.
Trump has since undermined the nation’s pluralistic fabric by targeting immigrants, foreign students, and anyone deemed anti-Semitic. He has elevated anti-Semitism to an almost sacred status. As I have written before, in the US, one may criticise the American government, but not the Israeli one — a troubling irony that raises questions about who truly governs.
Trump has generated unrest at home and animosity abroad with his vengeful, erratic, and unpredictable personality. He shifts policy on a whim, bypasses consultation, ignores Congress, and invokes executive privilege with impunity. His Cabinet, chosen for loyalty rather than merit, is beholden to him and is compliant with his decisions.
His policies have ranged from waging a tariff war, proposing to make Canada the 51st state, and even seeking to purchase Greenland — to supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza and the bombing of Yemen. He engaged Vladimir Putin without the involvement of European allies and shown hostility to numerous other countries.
At home, Trump — through Elon Musk — has rolled back the federal workforce, publicly confronted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, threatened law firms, judges, and academics, and frozen or threatened to cut funding to universities. He has also attempted to suppress press freedom.
Trump believes these policies would make America great again — a return to the supposed golden age of the American Empire. But the country is losing its unipolar dominance as new geopolitical alliances emerge.
One such development is the growing support China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war against Ukraine, which poses regional security risks, with Moscow reciprocating with military aid.
The BRICS bloc — originally Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — has expanded to include Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This broadening alliance challenges America’s once-undisputed global authority.
Due to Trump’s tariff war and adversarial approach, America suffers from a deep trust deficit. Trump was elected by well-meaning Americans — and now appears set to preside over the fall of their empire.
It brings to mind Winston Churchill’s defiant words:
“I am elected as the King’s first minister not to preside over the demise of the British Empire.”
Yet history may remember Trump as the president who did exactly that — for the American one.
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
