The USA used to be trusted. It was a stable trading partner and staunch ally. Despite some poor leaders and stupid decisions that led us into wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, it was the world leader. It took the lead role and the Western world followed. The USA was flawed but it stood for the same values as us and opposed the values of tyrants. It stood for democratic values and liberal freedoms. When the chips were down we knew we could count on the USA.
That has changed.
Trump has overturned that apple cart.
He lies. Nobody can believe a word he says.
He vacillates. He changes his mind every five minutes and alters his position 180 degrees (as with Russia and Ukraine).
He’s unreliable. Nobody has a clue what he will do.
He admires and supports our enemies – Putin, Kim Jung Un and seems to prefer tyranny and authoritarianism to democracy.
He openly supports fascists like the proud boys, Oban, Bolsonaro and Xi.
He undermines the very institutions that we rely on for peace, stability and the values we espouse – the UN and NATO.
He cannot be trusted to back us if it came to a war. We are no longer confident that if Russia were to invade a NATO country that the US would be there to back us up. He might well sit it out and try selling arms to both sides or negotiate deals for future mineral rights or trade.
His ridiculous claims on Canada and Greenland are highly disturbing and throws everyone into incredulity.
Nobody is certain that he wouldn’t form a pact with Putin, Xi and Jung Un to take over the world. They play him like the spoilt brat he is.
His ignorance of science is scary. Thousands died because of his stupidity over covid and vaccination (despite the hypocrisy of himself being vaccinated). His minions are expendable.
His war on science and education will have long-term problems. He might like an uneducated, ignorant population that can be easily manipulated but science and technology is the future. If you don’t produce the innovation you will not flourish. The US will be destined to be left behind.
His ignorance and denial of global warming and the future catastrophe that will produce for mankind is frightening. He puts short-term profit (fracking and drilling) before sane long-term planning. His assertion that it’s a con trick flies in the face of science and undermines the whole global initiative of COP.
His applying of tariffs to his friends and allies has destabilised world trade and put up costs for us all.
Under Trump the USA has become an unpredictable disrupter.
So how do we respond?
a. We kow-tow to his face because we have recognised that he is a narcissist with a short fuse and wish for revenge. He throws tantrums and turns on his friends. We pretend. We soothe him with praise and gifts so we can manipulate him. It’s like placating the school bully and keeping him on side. Behind his back we plan and scheme and say what we really think. The man is an unstable, psychotic imbecile with his finger on the nuclear button.
b. We form pacts with our allies to deal with threats because we can no longer trust the USA. This means sharing intelligence, weapons and strategy and gradually freezing the USA out of the picture. We no longer trust.
c. We start setting up alternative trade with other partners. Who needs tariffs and unreliability. Trade is based on trust. We will freeze the US out.
d. We will develop green technology, supply burgeoning markets and become world leaders in this incredibly lucrative field.
e. We will provide a home for the brains fleeing the Trump regime as it stifles free thought, science and education.
f. We will forge a new world order in which the USA will no longer be the world leader. The worry is that Xi, Putin and Kim Jung Un have seen that weakness and have their eye on domination and India (under the extremist Modi) is waiting in the wings looking to see which way that cookie crumbles.
Trump, with his insatiable greed and placing of personal wealth and lust for power above all other considerations, has opened a Pandora’s box. In the short-term he will personally gain billions and America might even gain from the tariffs he has imposed. In the long-term the USA will lose its preeminent position, be regarded as ridiculous for electing such an unreliable, ill-informed, ignorant, stupid and mentally deranged, obnoxious narcissistic psychopath.
Worst case scenario is Russia, China and Korea filling the void and allying with India. Goodbye Western liberal values. Hello war.
Best case scenario – The USA jettisons Trump and the MAGA stupidity and comes to its senses. A credible leader is elected. World trade is stabilised, alliances are rebuilt and sanity rules once more. Putin, Xi and Jung Un are put back in their boxes.
The whole world take a big sigh and shakes its head in disbelief.