A different America
In less than a month after Donald Trump assumed his country’s presidency, the United States leapfrogged to become first in line on the list of hated countries in the world. Domestically and internationally, it has become common to hear statements like “I don’t want to visit the United States” and “I will avoid buying American products.”
This dislike for America and everything American can only reverberate with negative consequences on so many fronts for the US. There’s no way of knowing in advance the level of impact on US products, tourism, and American schools, among others. But the new face of America will not help in expanding world patronage of anything American as wished for by the new American president. If President Trump thinks that he can bamboozle the rest of the world into getting what he wants, the rest of the world has ways of making him get a rude awakening.
The world is witnessing an entirely different America. The resulting sights and sounds that assault our senses engender scorn and hatred. The US has dramatically lost copious amounts of goodwill. All efforts painstakingly built by a long succession of Republican and Democratic administrations, aimed at cultivating an image of a model country that serves as a refuge for the politically persecuted and sanctuary for those looking for a chance at economic redemption, have gone down the drain. The pre-Trump America was far from perfect because it still had many faults but, in an imperfect world, it was miles away in comparison to fascist countries.
America has ditched the tremendous soft power that it possessed in abundance when it was still practicing a noticeable level of benevolence. Instead, what America now arrogantly brandishes is pure brute force. America, the bully, now wields and uses its economic, military, and political powers for pure and naked self-interest, with nary a consideration for the interest of other countries. What we now see is America that sees its self-interest as completely in conflict and in an unavoidable collision with the interests of all other countries.
Gone are the days when the US positioned itself as the leader of the free world, perched on one end of the political pole, and in direct opposite to the aggrupation of fascist and autocratic countries like Russia, China, and North Korea. With the assumption of power of President Trump, the US has moved to the opposite pole and its behavior is mimicking the conduct of despotic and dictatorial governments.
The developments in the US are disturbing. There’s a turn away from a policy of helping the less fortunate and marginalized, both domestically and internationally. There’s the abandonment of the policy of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) which has fostered the fair treatment and full participation of people who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability. Is the US now saying that women, racial minorities, and the disabled can now compete on their own for equal opportunities in American society? There’s the freezing/defunding of aid to poor countries through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The new America only sees the aid it gives to the world, but turns a blind eye on the humongous profits and taxes it generates from its access to foreign markets. The DEI and USAID programs may have their defects, but the solution should be to fine-tune them and not to totally and hastily throw them out the window.
There’s the post-haste pivot in policies that have resulted in: open antagonism against long-standing nation-allies and appeasement of long-time fascist enemies; encouragement and support for the purveyors of disinformation, racism, and fascist beliefs; abandonment of climate change initiatives; wholesale condemnation of migrants as criminals and welfare wards; transactional treatment of government that values sheer monetary numbers instead of lives, ethics, and principles.
Many, if not all of these pivots have been made without support from any thorough study, research, and even in complete disregard of science. The lightning decisions made in all these policy changes do not prove decisiveness, as trumpeted by Trump supporters. Instead, they show that these hasty decisions are being made in accordance with an ideology—one that spurns the weak, boosts fascist movements, promotes isolationism, advocates unadulterated greed, and promotes the universally condemned creed that might is right.
It’s an ideology that spurns the ideals of democracy which has been the wind that has propelled America to attain unprecedented economic, political, and cultural success. American democracy, particularly the version of its capitalist economy, has many pitfalls, giving rise to so much disenchantment among Americans. But to wildly swing to the extreme right and vest autocratic and imperial powers to a leader like Donald Trump will not solve but will only worsen its—and the world’s—fundamental problems in the long run.
In its quest for even more wealth, America is losing its soul.
—————
Comments to fleamarketofideas@gmail.com
