When Donald Trump first visited Paris when President in 2017, he appeared as something of a passing curiosity; the apparent manifestation of America’s inexorable decline, captured in all its spray-tanned vulgarity. Seven years later he has returned to Paris as emperor, crowned by his client kings in none other than the spiritual home of modern Christendom: Notre-Dame. “It was a coronation,” as one European diplomat put it to me, laughing with incredulity at the spectacle.
What is so striking about this second coming of Trump is not just that the world appears to have accepted his victory this time, but to have actively embraced him as the harbinger of a new age, no longer seeking to protect the old one that has been discredited. The visual proof of this diplomatic embrace was captured in the image of Europe’s leaders in Paris, one after the other, moving to submit themselves at the feet of the new imperator.
Yet it was not the symbolism of the ceremony in Notre-Dame on Saturday which came closest to capturing the revolutionary spirit of Trump’s coming presidency, but the events unfolding at the same time thousands of miles away in Syria. While in one sense the collapse of the Assad regime in Damascus has little to do with Trump, it is impossible to understand the speed and timing of the revolution without considering the impact that his impending presidency is already having on world affairs.
Think about the events that have already since Trump’s election victory in November. First, there was the collapse of the German government and the sacking of Israel’s defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, on the day of the American election. Then came Netanyahu’s ceasefire-deal with a dazed and confused Hezbollah, followed by the authorisation of the firing of long-range American missiles into Russia, the publication of Zelensky’s peace plan, the collapse in the value of the Russian rouble under fresh American sanctions and, finally, the sudden implosion of the Syrian regime. The French government also collapsed.
“Everyone has taken his mantra that all is transactional and is positioning themselves to open the way for a bargain with Trump,” explained one French official reflecting on this extraordinary cascade of events. Even before taking power, then, Trump is the catalyst for a new age.
In Syria, he sparked a revolution. Frustrated with a diplomatic impasse as the clock ticked down to Trump’s inauguration and the ambitions of the American-backed Kurdish rebels in Syria’s north east, Turkey’s President Erdogan appears to have authorised the advance of his own client rebels first. Erdogan, it seems, wanted to ensure the Turkish-backed militias were in the strongest possible position to deal with Trump after January 20, only to have triggered the sudden and complete collapse of the Assad regime. Russia, meanwhile, bogged down in Ukraine and already having paid a large price for little reward in Syria, was also caught off guard and now faces the loss of key military bases on the Arab-Mediterranean coast, further entrenching Erdogan’s power in the region.
Across the Middle East, all the major powers are jockeying for position. Already, Benjamin Netanyahu has taken advantage of the vacuum of power in Syria and in Washington to grab new territory in the Golan Heights and try to impose a new political dominance at home. Saudi Arabia, too, sees opportunities under Trump. Even Iran, the great loser in world affairs since October 7 last year, may feel it now has no choice but to sue for peace and reach a deal.
For Ukraine, meanwhile, it is President Biden (or his officials) who is accelerating events by rushing to do all he can before Trump’s inauguration, with new weapons transfers and sanctions that are causing Russia fresh economic pain. Yet, once again, it is Trump who stands to gain as each side plays out their cards in expectation of his attempt to impose a new order on the world once in power.
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SubscribePolitics has never ceased to be transactional. All Trump’s victory represents is the defeat of the suburban graduate class that took power everywhere in the West during the 1990s and, through a combination of greed, narcissism and plain old incompetence, succeeded in rolling back all the advances made by wiser people since 1945 and, in the process, created the dystopia we inhabit now.
Starmer’s accidental landslide is the last gasp of this bankrupt order. In 2029 it will be gone from the world.
Let’s hope so…
Sooner, one may hope …
Perhaps it entered the period of stasis when all the elites believed Fukuyama and assumed nation states were finished, globalism and THEIR idea of liberal democracy would prevail. Alongside that but almost coincident was the idea governments can outsource all decisiions up to unaccountable UN agencies or down to unaccountable fiefdoms meanwhile borrowing and spending as they chose.
I believe all these certainties have now been shown false and perhaps the collapse of the Eurozone fictitious credit systems will go first. If Germany cannot or will not pay the bills all the cross guarantees and debt financed unprofitable schemes suddenly become untenable.
Such a great reply!
Well put, that’s just how it seems to me too.
A fantastic essay, imo.
“What is so striking about this second coming of Trump is not just that the world appears to have accepted his victory this time, but to have actively embraced him as the harbinger of a new age, no longer seeking to protect the old one that has been discredited.”
That seems to be the key insight: people might not like Trump or his style, but they recognize the neoliberal internationalism that proceeded it has failed; its only success is immiseration of the Western middle class.
“In an important sense, in fact, Trump represents the end to all such teleological notions of progress or decline. Power is the point.”
Imagine if Western governments truly understood that “power is the point?” Virtue-signaling ideologies would crumble; the Western military would be rebuilt, as would Western economies, and they’d be rebuilt around a unifying national myth or ideology (whichever you prefer) that recognizes people are tribal, and tribes instinctively compete with other tribes. We might suffer to some extent, but it would be for a common cause based on ideas of statehood and nationality.
Imagine if Life, red in tooth and claw (to borrow a phrase), once again dictated our national priorities and direction, rather than the neurotic fads of pink-haired people.
If only Starmer and his idiot crew were capable of realising that neoliberal internationalism has failed. We’re in for a miserable few years here.
The Trump phenomena is strange.
I keep hearing and reading about how ridiculous he is. How foolish he is. How everything he says is a lie. Foolish Americans for voting in this imbecile.
And then I look at our leaders in the UK and Europe. The wise ones. The sensible ones. The experts. And I have to say… I think I know who the fools are. It’s us.
The world is changing rapidly around us. And we have Starmer in charge. And he already looks obsolete. Utterly clueless.
Maybe after years of frankly student level nonsense on race, gender, geopolitics and net-zero we end up with Trump. And no one should be surprised.
I blame misinformation for the rise of Trump, and the decline of Starmer and Trudeau etc.
Instead of getting information from trusted sources like the BBC, the Guardian, CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, people are getting misinformation from social media, TikTok, their wallets, the streets they walk along, their utilities bill, their tax bills, their rudimentary grasp on what is a man and what is a woman, etc.
Yes. God forbid anyone should form an opinion based on their own observation and experience. That’s what university professors are for.
Instead of getting information from trusted sources like the BBC, the Guardian, CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, people are getting misinformation from social media.
This suppose to be trusted sources, you kidding me.
There are as well as the most leading media in Europe left, biased and if not lying than telling half truths. Which is the same.
Woosh!
i think Martin was being sarcastic
Irony is lost on you.
Pretty sure that was sarcasm. Such things often rely upon nonverbal cues such as body language and tone of voice that aren’t conveyed easily in print. There’s always one idiot in every high school literature class who thinks Swift really did mean to eat Irish babies.
Sarcasm no doubt.
This is sarcasm surely…
Of course it is! Too many literal thinkers these days, I blame our crappy education system.
Well, when you read somebody’s comment, without having face-to-face contact, it’s not always easy to understand whether they have been serious or facetious.
It happens to me now and then on Twitter to like a tweet, being convinced that it is sarcastic, only to realise, after checking the bio and timeline, that the author was absolutely serious in their absurd take.
Poet’s law, etc.
Indeed. Anyone using the phrase ‘trusted sources like the BBC, the Guardian, CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC’ is clearly just having a larf.
Good Lord, hope that’s sarcasm
The “BBC, the Guardian, CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC,” “trusted sources”???
You have to be off your rocker!
This is all a fascinating thing to watch. The institutional authority of the political, educational, and media institutions has simply melted away. Really, some would say that they destroyed themselves from the inside by being corrupt, stupid and evil.
Just like the fall of the Soviet Union, those on the inside don’t even appear to believe in it anymore. That I think happened in Syria as well. Assad was allegedly promised legitimacy if he stopped aligning with the Axis of Resistance of Russia, and Iran, and aligned more with the Saudi and Gulf-States, who are themselves in turn aligned with America’s favorite, Israel.
But it was all just another primrose path, and in the end, having weakened the country economically, and the reluctant leader, having apparently bet it all on a pro-West path forward, perhaps found himself too overcome by a direction of decline of confidence, simply faded out the door with a whimper.
So, we also see whimpering wimps in the EU, having bet it all on project Ukraine, hoping perhaps that Georgia will fall and become the next proxy, or Romania having voted wrongly will be able to be dragged back into “democracy” and think and obey rightly about all things, now they have no ideas left. Having been used, abused, and betrayed by their old master, they come crawling to the new one seeking legitimacy in their own house-of-card lives.
We are truly living in clown world! Perhaps narrative driven reality is coming to an end, and we are now entering into the realm of realism. Biden’s last gift to Europe being a bunch of Syrian refugees that will soon be coming that European nations can no longer afford to house, the energy to keep them warm.
The BBC, NYT, The Guardian, CNN, the Big Three U.S. networks: they’re like the Germany, France, and England described herein. They’re relics. The New World Order of media comprises the likes of UnHerd, The Free Press and Substack in general, Joe Rogan and the podcastophere. The last 8+ years have persuaded old folks like me that we’ve been lied to in order to prop up a legion of elitists whose twin objectives at the end of the day are power and wealth. Perhaps they’re no different from Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, and the rest. But I don’t think so, annd we’re about to find out. One other thought. The surface may appear calm, but January 20th looms, and I don’t trust the progressives of my country to behave at the inauguration. Hope I’m wrong.
He was being sarcastic, but yes, this. These old media sources no longer enjoy a near total monopoly in the realm of news and information distribution, yet they are still trying to act as the custodians of public information as they did in the past. The wider array of viewpoints that resulted from widespread internet usage and availability has shattered that old dynamic. It revealed the preexisting bias of those old media sources and established conclusively that the range of public views is as broad and diverse as the people who hold them.
A lot has changed since January 2017 – not least public perceptions of Hillary Clinton. I don’t suppose anyone will now claim that her failure was America’s loss, much less demonstrate in complaint at it.
I am not very sure, but I hope you were sarcastic
I suspect that the 48 down votes are mostly people who didn’t get the joke
Come on! Fair’s fair! Trudeau is very much the architect of his own misfortune!
…”people are getting
misinformation from social media, TikTok, their wallets, the streets they walk along, their utilities bill, their tax bills, their rudimentary grasp on what is a man and what is a woman,etc., and, in turn, winning millions and millions of VOTES!Arguably it is not a matter of Left and Right or Socialism and Capitalism. It is about the Old Elite giving way, after a period of chaos, to the New Elite. This theory is called Cliodynamics. The theory suggests that as an Elite gets older it comes under pressure to find Elite jobs for the children of the Elite. There are not enough of these jobs to go around so you end up with grifters and expensive non-jobs, and the Elite gets top heavy to the point of collapse.
Perhaps the Biden Presidency was the time when it came to a head in the USA. Other parts of the world are flirting with populism or trying to delegitimise it. In the end it may not be ‘Trump the Man’ but ‘Trump the leader of the New Elite’ that becomes the standard bearer for an end to current chaos and the start of a new settled period.
Is it that clever? I don’t think so.
It feels to me like an overdose of three ‘isms’ in their most grotesque forms:
Relativism – the thought that all cultures and lifestyles are valid and of equal value
Environmentalism – the thought that humans are a scourge on the planet and everything we do is bad
Feminism – the thought that all masculinity is toxic
These three ‘isms’ have helped create very unstable and dissatisfied societies. Sensible and thoughtful discussion seems lost. And no, I’m not saying that these three ‘isms’ are bad. I’m saying that if you leave them to run unchecked they can become distorted. Even ridiculous.
Add into that cocktail, tanked economies and geopolitical fury it’s not surprising that Donald (and Donaldlite characters) have begun to appear.
Every ism eventually gets
hijacked.
Could be worse. It could be Corbyn.
When you actually think about that. Really think about it. It’s terrifying!
The key point about Corbyn is that he is entirely honest about his politics. He is a Socialist and actually believes in Socialism and doesn’t disguise it.
The electorate could not mistake what he stood for. In that respect he is far superior to Cameron, May, Johnson, Sunak and Starmer, all of whom believe only in them becoming Prime Minister in order to enrich themselves.
A man with honest, open beliefs is entirely preferable to the Uniparty WEF politicians the UK has had for years. It is precisely why Trump won in the USA.
He is a Socialist and actually believes in Socialism and doesn’t disguise it. That’s the scary part! How clueless must he be to think that will float?
It goes back to Rousseau vs. Hobbes, idealism vs. realism. Do we aspire to greater ideals and seek to will them into being or do we simply accept what we are and the world as it is, and make do as best we can? The era from WWII through the 2000’s was among the most idealistic ages of human history, with people aspiring to eliminate war, poverty, racism, and so many other human ills through science, responsible government, and education. We’ve been handed a major reality check, and the pendulum is swinging back towards the Hobbes/realism side. Trump is the avatar of that change, ahead of his time and unexpected in 2016, regarded as an anomaly or blip. His decisive victory and the demographic trends behind it put that notion to death. Now he is seen as what he always was, the herald of change and a sign of things to come. They were surprised in 2016. They’re not now.
IDK. This seems a bit over the top to me. Not everything in the world happens because Trump. Political collapse in Europe has nothing to do with Trump, other than the emergence of similar populist movements. Trump and European populists emerged because of the destruction caused by the same sclerotic, incompetent political elite. Nothing more. The events in Syria would seem to be more impacted by Biden and Bibi, rather than Trump.
Good point that the trends were that way but I still think that Donald Trump’s election set off a seismic shift that had been held back in case Kamala Harris took over. That’s his superpower — to get things moving and get things done. He and Elon Musk are a pair. Neither one is afraid of looking foolish or making a mistake. If they fail they just dust themselves off and forge ahead. It’s a great way to innovate. In fact, it’s the only way.
Donald Trump has his weaknesses, and as Peter Drucker liked to say, they are strong weaknesses. But his strengths more than make up for them. He’s not even president yet and he’s already at work, taking over the stage at the Notre Dame cathedral. Whatever happens in the next four years will be interesting to see; if nothing else it won’t be boring.
He and Elon Musk are a pair. Neither one is afraid of looking foolish or making a mistake. If they fail they just dust themselves off and forge ahead. It’s a great way to innovate. In fact, it’s the only way.
.
Smart boy!!!
No but I think we all realize that the effete globalist cabal of Obama, Macron, Trudeau, Rutte and their ilk is coming to an end. No one cares what they think anymore. The Trumpists have defeated them in the US, Trudeau will soon be gone in Canada, Macron is flailing, Rutte has gone, the AfD is rising in Germany, Meloni – great pal of Elon’s – has Italy, etc. Endless immigration and climate change are off the menu. NATO spending is on it. Trump will tear up trade agreements if he wants to – anyone dealing with him knows they need to put some chips on the table.
That’s a valid point. As the article says everything with Trump is transactional. No matter how distasteful leaders find him, they know they’ll have to deal with him
“Trumpeters” is a more fun term to use.
nice! or how about Trumpies. ? Hey, it works for Taylor Swift .It’ll make progressives feel better (they can even do a reverse ferret and claim they were Trumpies all along)
Rutte is not gone. He’s the new head of NATO. Another Biden/ Obama pick.
I know – I wonder how long that will last. He is everything Trump’s team despises.
Not everything happens in the world because Trump. But in the eyes of certain types, anything that hasn’t been caused by Trump has been caused by Elon Musk and anything which hasn’t been casued by either of those two must be Putin.
I can’t help feeling that these guys get handed far too much power through making them out to be bigger bogeymen than they are.
Maybe. But as Carlos Danger says above: “Donald Trump’s election set off a seismic shift that had been held back in case Kamala Harris took over.” I believe that is exactly what happened. The sudden change in the attitudes of almost every actor across the world once they saw Harris and the agenda she represented has been put out to pasture has been striking.
People always overestimate the importance of individual leaders and underestimate the importance of culture, technology, and environment when it comes to giving credit or laying blame for the things that happen in history. The political collapse in Europe and the rise of Trump are both symptomatic of the broader collapse in the faith of western populations for the post-WWII order and the globalist project that sprang from it at the end of the Cold War. The origin of both the Trump movement and the populist movements of Europe and Brexit as well, can all be traced to the same root cause, that is the unraveling of the social contract that neoliberalism was based on. The old social contract that started with the New Deal in the US and postwar social democracies in Europe was based on accepting the inequalities of capitalism so long as all suffered or prospered together and inequality between the wealthiest and poorest remained somewhat stable. Widespread economic globalization and the propagation of free trade treaties and free trade zones resulted in the wholesale transfer of industrial/manufacturing jobs from high wage industrialized nations to low wage ‘global south’ countries. Rising inequality and stagnating wages were regarded as elites breaking the social contract. That’s the origin of all these disparate movements and the reason no amount of propaganda, education, or political maneuvering seems to be able to counter the slowly rising tide of populist sentiment. The globalists should have seen all this coming a long time ago. They should have recognized the problems and started trying to fix them well before Trump showed up. Instead they disregarded the people and called them names like ‘racists’, ‘xenophobes’, and tried to push their own ideology through the media and education system. That was, shockingly, not a terribly effective political strategy. They set themselves up like bowling pins to be crushed by the Trump or whoever else was around to play the revolutionary leader and throw the ball. The amazing thing is that even if Trump misses entirely, someone else will probably come along to take the next shot.
Under most circumstances I would agree with your point that large forces dominate, and mere people are their instruments. That was once my opinion of Trump. Before he entered politics in 2015, I viewed him as a mildly interesting, somewhat boorish Manhattan real estate guy with a penchant for self promotion. And for the next several years, I saw him as representing resistance to certain powerful forces, but as the person history chose for the role, rather than having unique agency or importance.
But I changed my mind over the last 5 years, since his first (bullshit) impeachment, and as the list of his associates and supporters destroyed by “the machine” grew and grew. His defiance against the immense power and viciousness of the lawfare and propaganda used against him, culminating in an assassination attempt from which he rose, shouting defiance, place him in a different category. I really wonder whether anyone else would have persevered against the warfare that has been, and still is, unleashed on him. And without such a person, what would the world look like, today?
Yes, he did not create the environment against which he rose, or the specific problems he identified and speaks against. But is there anyone else who would have, could have, done what he did? Maybe somewhere, but if so, they are keeping themselves well hidden–and that says it all.
Your point is well taken. I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit my own personal dislike for the man that goes back to well before he entered politics is a factor here. Certainly not to the extent of the frothing media, but the fact is I’m a calm, patient, strategic person and I appreciate a more patient, calculating approach. He does a lot of things, like the incoherent tweets, the shuffling of advisors, and the remarks that contradict earlier remarks, indicate to me that this man has no idea what he’s doing and he’s just bluffing his way through it like the high school student who is giving a presentation he came up with in the five minutes before class started. I think it’s the impulsiveness that bothers me most but there are certain advantages to it. For his enemies, he is hard to predict so they have to be cautious. Allies and potential allies have room to believe the man can be convinced to change his mind.
Perhaps it’s partly wishful thinking on my part when I assert that there were others who could have stepped into Trump’s place and do what he did. It’s a completely speculative hypothetical. Maybe somebody else could have done better than Trump, but wherever the populist wave goes from here, future historians will give him credit for starting it. I have to give credit where it is due. The party of big business, free trade, and global interventions has been turned upside down into a party of the working class, protectionism, and non-interference. Wall Street, big business, and the super rich overwhelmingly backed the Democratic ticket. If it sticks, it will be one of the biggest realignments in American history, right up there with the New Deal and the Civil War
As far as I can see, Europe has been totally misled by the BBC, Guardian and the US MSM on the subject of Trump. At least that was the impression I got during my last visit to UK.
Americans no longer look to the MSM for their News, having been consistently lied to over the past twelve years. If you want to know the truth go and watch President Trump’s Joe Rogan podcast.
Because everybody has been taking their cues from BBC etc, they have been living lie for all these many years. Now that the US does not get its news from the MSM, they have been awakened to the truth. Do not trust anything the BBC etc have to say.
Are you saying that Trump says something in that podcast that will make us completely ignore everything that he has said and done in his life to date?
“Already, Benjamin Netanyahu has taken advantage of the vacuum of power … to grab new territory in the Golan Heights”
That’s a distinctly unfair way of explaining Israeli actions in the Golan. They are not “grabbing” land, but occupying the demilitarised zone until the new regime demonstrates a willingness to continue the status quo ante. No country in its right mind would leave unoccupied a demilitarised zone created as part of a truce (not a peace settlement) until the new regime showed its true colours.
Precisely, John. The ships, planes, missiles, and suchlike are all sitting there – the new regime cannot safeguard them from the first taker. Either Israel lets them be moved or taken, or it destroys them. The new regime cannot use and does not need a military created for an aggressive war, most especially in a war-torn country such as Syria.
After all the years of screaming and angst, it turns out that Trump was “the adult in the room,” and all the rest were the moralistic children. Trump always said that “we each have our interests, let’s see what we can work out”, while all the rest shrieked at him as if he was a monster.
As I first said to my wife in late 2015, “say what you will about Trump, but he is very clarifying.”
I feel Tom is a good writer and a poor analyst. Trump has nothing to do with the collapse of the French and German governments, nothing to do with Assad’s defeat, and certainly nothing to do with the insanity of firing long range American missiles into Russia.
Trump is simply a harbinger of a new political reality: that all the pomp and bluster of politicians can not hide the truth that they are not representing the interests of their people.
It is the Information Age, and people no longer trust the MSM, the WEF, the NGOs and the dodgy modelling from ‘experts’ in an academia that has been obviously captured by fringe left lunatic ideas.
you are correct- Tom’s prose does overestimate Trumps effect. Thing is, his prose is quite good – so i tend to give him a bit of latitude . Good writer.
It is striking how open so many diplomats and officials are to Trump’s approach, telling me that they see in it a degree of brutal honesty if not morality.
Sometimes, it really is better to stop p***y-footing around and get stuff done.
“Sometimes, it really is better to stop p***y-footing around and get stuff done“. Like Hitler?
Reality bites. And the awful reality is that we are material beings living in a material world, & ultimately we cannot escape that reality. Through imagination we can create a better world for ourselves, but it is always bounded by inescapable natural laws (“in this age”, I think Wm. Blake would have said, but there’s no sign of the next one coming yet, so we’re stuck with this world pro tem).
Thus Trump is reconnecting us with the real world, the actual, horrible one where violence & coercion always work, but as far as I can see his instincts are for general happiness, genuine tolerance, individual aspiration. I think we’ve been fortunate. America’s elected dictator could have been much, much worse.
And he has the perfect ideas man, the man with imagination & vision, alongside him, in Elon Musk. A formidable combination.
It could all go nipples skywards of course. It always can. But I think this represents the best chance we’ve had for a long time. Everything’s crossed.
Much as I dislike the man myself, I can see why people like Trump. Musk however is a reptile.
Have you ever met him or is this just what you have been told or read?
It is based on everything he has said, and everything he has done (and he does have a public profile, so it is easy to follow these things). Plus, as an Australian, I am well familiar with white South Africans.
I also am not a big fan of Musk, but I am willing to be convinced otherwise, and I definitely hope I am wrong!
Remember these four words: Creepy, Weird, Arrogant, Obnoxious.
You’re so clever, wise, and good, Maverick Melonsmith. And your judgement, of course, must be perfectly sound! 🙂
I know a reptile when I see one. There are lots in the Australian outback.
Isn’t it wonderful to see all the creeps on the world stage, who’ve spent years vilifying and discrediting Trump, falling over themselves shake his hand and suck up to him? Revolting sycophants the lot of them!
Worth recalling a Trump predecessor, Ronald Reagan, someone the BBC and most media regarded as near Satan and thus unpredictable. He too succeeded a weak Democrat Jimmy Carter.
On his inauguration Iran released the American Embassy hostages.
Let’s not forget all the derision of Reagan who was labelled as “a stupid actor”.
But we also owe him eternal gratitude for the fall of communism.
So, it’s best to ignore the assessment of politicians made by snobbish pseudo-intellectuals.
Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with the fall of communism
He won the old War, and broke the Soviet Union.
Reagan was a pleasant and courteous man. Trump is neither of those things.
Maybe. Just how bad are the Dems to lose to him?
If you watch the Joe Rogan podcast, you will find you have been totally misled, but I do not expect you to admit that.
So, I’m supposed to watch one podcast, and as a result, utterly discount everything Trump has said and done throughout his entire life?
Be the change you wish to see in the world, friend.
I resolved to not visit the US while Trump occupied the White House. I didn’t the last time, and I won’t this time. Luckily, I sneaked a quick visit in when Biden was President.
The cover photo is from Trump kissing the flag during the Republican nomination in Milwaukee. Americans like me found this scene very touching. If international readers find this odd please remember this moment was for us, not you.
Oh, he was kissing it, you say? We thought he was wiping his mouth with it!
All of this is posturing and a way to distract your attention from reality, to bamboozle you—like Trump visiting the opening of Notre Dame. Really, people? The United States’ true competition is no longer the Middle East, Iran, or even Russia; it’s China. Always pay attention to what is not being talked about and what is hidden in the shadows for clues, rather than focusing on what is being thrown at you as if you’re a child unaware of the impending doom of your parents’ divorce.
You know what you know. They know you know. So now the question is: Do they know that you know what they know?
The issue we will face will not be a conventional physical war but a financial one. This type of war is much closer to home, making it all the more critical to distract you so that you remain unaware when it ultimately impacts your household.
China is an economic competitor of the West. Russia is the enemy of the West.
I hear you, kid ….
After all the chitchat about America’s “decline”, here we are talking about Trump’s New World Order. The US us about 86,000 dollars per capita, twice GB’s pathetic performance, and twice Europe’s.
And yet Americans still die needlessly from lack of basic healthcare.
This article makes the situation more complicated than it is: Trump was made possible by the fecklessness of the political establishment. Someone like him would not run and could not be elected in a healthy, well-functioning republic.
Others are reacting to Trump because they know he’s not Biden or any other standard-issue career pol. He tends to mean what he says; take him seriously though not always literally.
Alex, your comment descends into a casual, snide rudeness. How easily do you set yourself up as a judge over your fellow man!
What are you talking about? The alleged professionals have made a mess of things and, as such, seeming ‘outsiders’ like Trump, Melei, and others become possible if not necessary.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. I meant that Trump is a product of a healthy society and is a good man, far better than the ‘experts’ and elites who critique him from their own numerous failures. I think he is worthy of deep respect and admiration!
An interesting if gloomy essay. Inflection points often appear to have operated very, very quickly when viewed in hindsight, but to the people living through them outside of wars (us, right here right now) they feel like a slow motion all round deterioration of the familiar. We can make the case that the true point of inflection was not the banking crash of 2008, or the dot com bubble burst of 2000, or the twin towers attack, but the start of the internet revolution around 1993 – so we have in effect been living through the revolution for something like three decades already, and we are now approaching the crescendo. I think Trump is a catalyst, only in the sense that often enough individual figures attach themselves to pivotal moments like anchors in the churn, but in truth don’t have significance or merit except as magnets, as attractors.
We tend to overthink these things. The simple truth reflected in Trump’s victory is that post-modern ideologies minted in the bubble of academia do not make anyone in the real world happy, not even the people who are supposed to be helped by them.
That is a very nice, straightforward way of putting it. We are in a new era, some have not yet realised it, and none of us quite know where the changes will have the most impact.
Nicely said, sir.
Well said!
A pithy point, Hugh … thanks!
At the heart of political power is economic power and at the heart of economic power is energy power and survival power in the form of agricultural power and water power.
In other words, with Trump’s coming inauguration is the consolidation of the power to survive.
With respect to Syria we see either a Shia Muslim sponsored gas pipeline to Europe with oversight by Iran and Russia or a Sunni Muslim sponsored gas pipeline to Europe with oversight by Turkey and America.
http://www.oil-price.net:8000/en/articles/oil-prices-and-syrian-civil-war.php
How a Turkey backed gas pipeline squares with Trump’s ambitions to drill baby drill to reduce America’s trade deficit is as of yet an unknown.
There appears to be a thing called TAD ‘Trump Adulation Syndrome’, which is spreading.
TAD is not a good thing to have caught.
Not as amusing as your earlier contribution.
Violence and coercion do not always work. Ask Assad.
Trump and Starmer were both elected for want of anything better. I have no confidence in either. Democracies are self-cleaning in time, but the interim period may be difficult. Meanwhile, don’t big up little men.
It seems to me that most, if not all, the commentators here have jumped the gun a little. Trump won’t even take the oath of office until January 20. Already In a second term, he will be a “lame duck” from the very beginning and there are signs that the closely divided U.S. Senate won’t just roll over for him.
For example, in this very closely divided Senate there are thirty-three Senators who won’t face reelection campaigns until AFTER Trump leaves office, thus providing them a degree of of institutional insulation from MAGA disapproval. You’re seeing this in the difficulties some of his nominees are getting from the Senate. It’s traditionally been an aspect of the new administration’s “honeymoon” that the new executive gets their pick for a cabinet and that confirmation challenges start later on. But Trump’s have started now.
Trump’s power, and by extension populism’s appeal more globally, will rise on his success and will fall with his failure. Many American voters have bought into the claims that Trump is not one of the Elites that they hate without taking note that he might belong to another elite that will also take little notice of their concerns.
How will Americans react if they start seeing closed shops and higher prices because Trump tries to deport 13 million workers? The reaction to the policy of taking migrant children away from their parents proved extremely unpopular. Further instances of women dying or being crippled from pregnancy complications they couldn’t ease through therapeutic abortions will only help make the case that a man who claims no ideology adopts lethal ideological positions.
What happens to Trump’s transactional approach to diplomacy and use of American force when it becomes clear he faces a tremendous slide in popularity at home?
Do you mean that the billionaire cabal led by the dynamic duo of Trump/ Musk won’t save America? Alot of people will be so disappointed, the shitshow is about to begin, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Bring on the tariffs, trade wars, and the beginning of the great recession which will result from cutbacks in government spending and layoffs. Inflation will surge, deficits will go through the roof. That’s how the great depression started, Herbert Hoover 2.0 is about to begin. People have no idea what they are dealing with.
Hopefully the rest of the world will form a giant free trade zone around the US (although of course Russia will need to be excluded from it too).
Trump will probably follow the same tragectory as Johnson, Berlusconi, etc, it’s probably to much to hope he he will implode as rapidly as Liz Truss.