Commentators are beginning to turn their attention to Donald Trump's legacy. Simon Tidall's column in The Guardian is a good place to start. He writes:
How much damage did Donald Trump do around the world, can it be repaired, and did he accomplish anything of lasting significance? Assessing the international legacy of the 45th US president is not so much a conventional survey of achievement and failure. It’s more like tracking the rampages of a cantankerous rogue elephant that leaves a trail of random destruction and shattered shibboleths in its wake. Last week’s wild pardoning spree is a case in point.
From five thousand feet, destruction and ruin are all you see:
Trump’s ill-disguised hostility left deep scars in Germany, the most important European ally. This apparent phobia, fed by Berlin’s large trade surplus and relatively low defence spending, had a misogynistic tinge. He was, on occasion, unbelievably rude to chancellor Angela Merkel. A recent Pew poll found only 34% of Germans think US relations are in good shape.
All that said, Nato not only survived Trump’s constant criticisms; in some respects, its original purpose – deterring Russia – was reinforced by deployments of additional US forces in eastern Europe and the Baltic republics. Trump’s demand that European allies spend more on defence was not unreasonable, although his bullying brought only limited change.
And in Asia, Trump has left all kinds of rubble behind him:
Trump’s habit of thinking transactionally, not strategically, had a disastrous impact in Asia and elsewhere. He treated loyal allies Japan and South Korea with disdain – especially over misconceived talks with North Korea. He indulged rabble-rousers such as Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines president, antagonised Pakistan, yet still failed to significantly enhance ties with India.
The fierce mutual animosity currently poisoning US-China relations is Trump’s most troublesome geopolitical legacy. Before 2017, there was still an outside chance that the old and new superpowers could find ways to get along. That’s gone. China is now viewed by Americans of all stripes as the No 1 threat. Beijing’s aggressive leadership is much at fault. But Trump’s trade and tech wars, Taiwan brinkmanship and “Wuhan virus” rhetoric made everything worse.
That's quite a record. And I haven't even touched on the ruin Trump has left in his own country. There are all kinds of lessons to be learned about what happens when you allow a mob boss to strut and fret his hour upon the world stage. As Shakespeare wrote, "It is a tale told by an idiot."
Image: Vice.com
8 comments:
A litany of failures that will undoubtedly reverberate for years to come, Owen.
It's all wild conjecture, Owen. We don't even know what the crazed bugger might pull between now and January 20th. He's still got his "Trump card" - the Gullibillies. The Deplorables, as Hillary so aptly called them, still choose to believe whatever the lunatic tells them and some of them have been spoiling for a fight well before Trump became their el Cid. I expect there'll be at least some acts of defiance, violent civil disobedience.
I hope the FBI, NSA and Homeland Security are ready to go when Biden takes that Bible in hand.
Trump's presidency was built on lies, Lorne -- lies about his predecessor and, most particularly, about himself. The years ahead will reveal the utter emptiness of a monumentally hollow man.
Trump will not fade silently into oblivion, Mound. The real question is, "Will he ever really go away?"
70 million people voted for Trump in a bitterly contested election.
Trumpism is not going away and will perhaps linger after his death.
Trump has done to the USA what Maggie Thatcher did to the UK; eternal division and discontent.
Both the UK and USA are entering the failed state part of their histories.
Neither can now militarily demand or even lean upon other nations states to bend to their rules , they have only one weapon left and that is control over much of the worlds financing.
As the New Belt Road develops even that advantage will erode.
TB
And, as their decline continues, the Trumpers and the Thatcherites -- not understanding the reason for the decline -- will get nuttier and nuttier, TB.
.. We're in the new Trump paradigm
and its the 'past tense' not the future
'Everything Trump touched, died..'
not
'Everything Trump touches dies'
Hardly 'nuance' .. Harsh Reality
Trump may leave centre stage, sal. But his stench will linger for a long time.
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