Making America Imperialist Again

Once upon a time in China, the two words “America” and “imperialism” were always uttered together. China fought alongside North Korea in the Korean War. China aided North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. The Nixon-Mao meeting in 1972 and the normalization of U.S.-China relations in 1979 changed that. People in China gladly disassociated “America” from “imperialism.” America became the “shining city on a hill” for 1989 Tiananmen demonstrators and the hottest destination for Chinese students, tourists, investors, and emigrants.

Well, things they are a-changing, again, especially under Trump. A friend in China said in a WeChat group that he used to admire America, now he was turned off by America.

And the two words “American” and “imperialism” are joining up again thanks to President Trump, two other words that should really be separated. To be accurate, what we are witnessing is “Trump imperialism.”

Hegemony? Check. The Donroe Doctrine? Western hemisphere domination? Petro imperialism? Check. Venezuela? Territorial ambitions? Check. Canada? Greenland? Panama Canal? Economic coercion? Check. Exorbitant tariffs on all countries? Disdain of international law? Check. Withdrawing from and threatening international organizations? Military intervention? Check, check and check, check, check, check. Now Iran.

Behind his imperialist actions, Mr. Trump also revealed his imperialist mindset. When asked by the New York Times if there were any limits on his global powers, he said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Stephen Miller, Trump’s psyche and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, provided the rationale for Trump’s imperialist impulses: “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 since the beginning of time.”

This justification of “might makes right” is, however, dangerous. It may have made Trump feel triumphant with his attacks on Venezuela and the capture of its president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, but it also informed Russia and China that they could do whatever they wanted in their own hemisphere. Putin has ambitions to restore the Russian Empire, in power, territory and glory, while Xi Jinping is determined to recover Taiwan, claiming it as part of China since ancient times. It’s Putin conducting a decapitation of Ukraine, or Xi Jinping doing the same to Taiwan.

This belief in “might makes right,” however, also explains why Trump has seemed so sympathetic towards Putin in taking Ukrainian territories, or appeared to be so understanding towards Xi Jinping in his suggestions that it was up to Xi as to what to do about Taiwan.

Along with his newfound love for military conquest, Trump has also put on full display his inclination as a dictator. In the case of Venezuela, Trump ignored María Corina Machado, the prominent Venezuelan opposition leader, while accepting her offer of her Nobel Peace medal, and he declared himself acting president of Venezuela, announcing that the U.S. would run the country, and then allowed VP Delcy Rodríguez to be sworn in as president so long as she cooperated with the U.S.

Now, after a larger-scale decapitation operation against Iran is underway, Trump again wants to have a say or play a role in picking the country’s next leader. He called Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, a lightweight and unacceptable. “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump said. Mojtaba Khamenei has since been elected Iran’s new supreme leader by the country’s Assembly of Experts, thus potentially Trump’s next target.

Trump-the-imperialist-president has not only changed how people in the world, from Europe to Asia, see America, he has also “betrayed” Americans. That is the word of choice of Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host who helped Trump win the White House in 2024. Calling the war in Iran crazy and insane, the podcaster said, “he ran on no more wars: End these stupid, senseless wars. And then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

At least now we know why Department of Defense is now Department of War.

But America does not need more wars. What did the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan accomplish other than the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives — American, Iraqi, and Afghan — and the diminishment of American wealth? Trump’s Iran war has already killed 13 American troops along with nearly two hundred innocent Iranian school girls. And like the earlier wars, this one has also engendered terrorist attacks in America’s homeland, such as those in Virginia and Michigan on March 12.

By practicing 19th century-style imperialism, sending more America’s sons and daughters to fight the new war in Iran, diverting more resources away from affordability, jobs, schools, housing, renewable energy, infrastructure, science and research, and making homeland less safe, Trump turns out to be an America Last president.

The “shining city on a hill” is what America once aspired to, a model of democracy, humanity, equality, opportunity, a melting pot. That was when we led by example, not by missiles.