“We live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”
– White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller
“The post-war global order is not just obsolete. It is now become a weapon being used against us… Eight decades later [after the old order led to the end of the Cold War] we are called upon to create a free world out of chaos. This will not be easy and it will be impossible without a strong and confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests once again above all else.”
– Sec. of State Marco Rubio
New York Times reporter: “Do you see any limits on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you?”
Donald Trump: “Yeah, there is only one thing: my own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
– Donald Trump Jan. 7 interview with The New York Times
So there you have it: the post-war international order, which has fostered international prosperity, spread democracy and prevented a catastrophic Third World War, is officially over, replaced by a medieval contest of power and force, the kind of world that despots like Russia’s Vladimir Putin inhabit. The old system of rules and laws is seen as not only obsolete, but dangerous to America. And the new system will be governed by the morality of the most immoral, corrupt and self-serving president in US history.
Supposedly a “peace president” who says “nobody deserves a Nobel Peace Prize more than me,” has killed 115 alleged drug smugglers in 35 bombings of their boats near Venezuela (without the US proving that they were ferrying drugs. And if they were, the drug involved likely was cocaine originating in Colombia. Fentanyl shipments to the US come through Mexico.)
In furtherance of Trump’s new Western Hemisphere-centric security policy, on Jan.3, US air forces and commandos captured Venezuela’s brutal dictator, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife and brought them to the US for trial on drug charges.
It was not a “regime-change” action, since the Maduro government (minus Maduro) remains intact. The country’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez is nominally in charge, though threatened by Trump with Maduro’s fate if she does not keep Maduro’s party under control and doesn’t give the US total access to Venezuela’s oil. She is so far yielding to Trump, but she has also promoted two of Maduro’s most ruthless aides, Diosdado Cabello and Gustavo Lopez, to top security positions.
Nor was the US takeover designed to promote democracy. The leader of Venezuela’s opposition, Maria Corina Machado, was initially dismissed by Trump as lacking “respect” (especially from the military), but she has tried to woo Trump with praise and by giving him the Nobel Prize she won. Nobel officials say the prize is not transferable, but Trump seems flattered to own the Nobel medal.
Trump’s main purposes in conquering Venezuela seem to be control of the world’s largest oil reserves (though US oil companies are wary of making investments necessary to extract it) and assertion of US power over a country formerly allied with Cuba, Russia and Iran. Cuba and Colombia are assumed to be on Trump’s target list. Trump already has bombed Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Nigeria and Iraq and threatened Mexico, Canada, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua and Panama.
Beyond Venezuela, Trump is asserting the US must annex Greenland for national security reasons, even though the US is entitled to build whatever defenses it wants on the world’s largest island. Nonetheless, he is insisting on US ownership and has threatened to seize it by force, which will destroy NATO.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, which refuses to hand the island over to the US. The NATO charter declares that an attack on one member requires a military response from all. Seven other European countries are backing Denmark, leading Trump to threaten them with 10% all-export tariffs on Feb. 1 rising to 25% on June 1.
Almost comically, were it not serious, Trump told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store that one reason he is pursuing “complete and total control of Greenland” is Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, the government of Norway does not award the prize. It’s done by the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Trump has further alienated NATO allies by asserting a fanciful desire to make Canada America’s 51st state, imposing stiff tariffs and evidently abandoning Ukraine in its war with Russia. European countries back Ukraine, fearing eventual Russian aggression against them.
Trump has “paused” giving military and intelligence support to Ukraine and has resumed criticizing Ukraine for failing to sign onto his pro-Russian peace plan. Meantime, Russia persists in launching devastating missile and drone attacks on Ukraine civilians and energy infrastructure while also pressing maximum demands before agreeing to a ceasefire.
The United States’ reputation is seriously suffering from Trump’s withdrawal from its former position as leader of the free world and defender of its values. He has long expressed his contempt for Europe’s Democrat-like economics and social welfare policies and its (former) reluctance to spend on its defense. Now, US favorability among longstanding allies is the UK, 50%, Canada, 34%, France, 36%, Germany, 33%, the Netherlands, 29% and Sweden, 19%, all down from previous heights.
Countries where the US is still popular include authoritarian Hungary, 60%, Ukraine neighbor Poland, 55%, and most Far East countries except Australia, 29%, according to the Pew International Survey. Mexico is at 29%. Even many countries still friendly to the US lack confidence in Trump as a world leader.
According to Washington Post foreign affairs columnist Fareed Zakaria, countries all over the world are hedging their bets away from the US toward China, which is “methodically building one of the most resilient economic ecosystems in modern history, dominating critical mineral processing, achieving scale in batteries and electric vehicles and diversifying export markets to withstand shocks, sanctions and tariffs.”
For one instance, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, just visited China and reached an agreement to co-operate on clean energy (especially electric cars and batteries), oil and climate strategy.
More Force
The new US system of force and power applies not only in foreign affairs. Trump’s whole presidency has been characterized by bully-boy power grabs and contempt for the rule of law and the Constitution.
Trump has used his powers to punish, not persuade, 480 individuals, universities, law firms, federal agencies, states, media, civil rights organizations and political adversaries, according to Reuters.
The most consequential new target is Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom the Justice Department is criminally investigating on charges he lied to Congress about the cost of renovating Fed headquarters. The action on the administration’s part is unnecessary in as much as Powell’s term as Fed chair ends this May 15.
It is also self-destructive inasmuch as Powell has gained widespread support for his charges that the investigation is an effort to destroy the independence of the Fed, an attempt to cause the setting of interest rates to be based on political influence, not judgements of the condition of the economy. Past Fed chairmen, financial sector leaders and Members of Congress of both parties have protested and markets have reacted negatively. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says he will block confirmation of any Fed nominee until the probe is resolved.
Trump has constantly hounded Powell to lower interest rates to pump up his economy and has been planning to appoint a successor who will obey his orders. But the Senate may refuse to confirm such a nominee and Powell could conceivably decide to remain on the Fed board until 2028 to deny Trump a Fed majority.
In December, Gallup found that Powell’s approval rating was 44%, the highest of any federal official, while Trump’s was 36%.
Another counterproductive administration action is Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth’s effort to reduce Sen. Mark Kelly’s Navy retirement rank of Captain and with it, his pay. It’s Hegseth’s penalty for Kelly’s joining five other retired national security Democrats in Congress in a video reminding US service personnel that they are under orders not to obey an unlawful order. Hegseth claims the video was a “seditious” attempt to undermine civilian authority over the military. A YouGov poll shows that by 58% to 27% the public opposes Hegseth’s action..
Additionally, Trump, Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have used maximum power and (often excessive) force to conduct “the most massive deportation in American history,” making ICE the largest law enforcement agency in America and permitting its personnel to beat, tear gas and sometimes kill immigrant detainees and protesters.
Before any investigation was done, Noem and Trump declared the latest ICE fatality, Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good, to be a “domestic terrorist,” though one videotape shows her trying to leave the scene of trouble before she was shot through her car’s window, an action ICE officers are told to avoid.
Since the Good killing, by 47% to 34%, US adults say ICE makes the country less safe, according to a YouGov survey. And by 46-43 percent, they favor abolishing ICE altogether, compared to 27% last summer.
Joe Rogan, one of the most listened-to podcasters in America (with an audience of 20.6 million), who endorsed Trump in 2024, said after Good’s killing that the video looked to him as though she was trying to drive away from the officer. About ICE, he said, “Are we really going to become the Gestapo, enforcing its thuggishness by demanding ‘where’s your papers?’ Is this what we’ve become?”
Massive demonstrations protesting ICE are erupting all over the country, a few violent. Confirming the fears of some Democratic officials and legal experts, Trump announced that he might invoke the rarely-used 1807 Insurrection Act to put down unrest in Minneapolis. Shortly after that, he backed down, saying such an action was not necessary at the moment, but that he still could invoke it.
The Act would allow him to mobilize regular US Armed Forces to put down demonstrations. It would be a maximum use of force and power. Since Good’s killing, 3,000 additional federal agents have been dispatched to Minneapolis and one more person has been shot, not fatally. The Pentagon has put 1,500 US Army troops on alert in case Trump invokes the Act.
The Justice Department announced it is investigating Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who have called for withdrawal of ICE forces while also urging citizens to remain calm.
Joining Trump and Miller’s jihad against illegal immigrants, Rubio said that “US foreign policy interests” made it impossible to comply with a judge’s order to return 137 illegally deported Venezuelan immigrants to the US to argue that they were not gang members. Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment.
The CATO Institute reported that of the 73,000 persons currently detained by ICE, only 5% had been convicted of violent crimes and 75% had no convictions whatever. Pro Publica reported that ICE had detained 170 US citizens and kicked, dragged and detained them for days.
A Ronald Reagan-appointed federal judge just blasted Miller, Rubio and Noem for engaging in an “unconstitutional conspiracy” to deny First Amendment rights to pro-Palestinian students and teachers by arresting and deporting them for criticizing Israeli conduct in Gaza. In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump berated a group of US Attorneys for being “weak” and “not moving fast enough” in prosecuting his “favorite targets.”
After disparaging Europe in his speech at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland and insisting the US had to own Greenland, Trump began backing away from his threats. He said he would not use force to take Greenland. He also reversed his threat to raise tariffs on European nations supporting Denmark in its refusal to hand Greenland to the US. And he later announced that he had reached a framework agreement that would give the US all it wants on Greenland over a “long period.” No details were announced. But European leaders continued to say they could no longer trust the US to be a reliable partner.
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