Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
There is talk that Trump is revolutionizing the world, and that nothing will be the same after him and his administration. This is a somewhat hasty and rather premature judgment. How true can it be that he is changing paradigms for an unexpected and unprecedented future?
What is certain is that he is trying to implement the playbook of an ideological current that has always promoted his proposals and ideas. But how novel are his ideas?
He has promoted a nativist idea of what he aspires for the country he governs to be. That is, a country of immigrants, yes, but with Caucasian features. Immigration is not for Blacks, Latinos, or Asians. According to his idea, the original geographical origin of Americans is the central mass of Europe, from the British Isles to what he considers the European or white part of Russia.
The subsequent migration of Black people (as slaves) or Latinos and Asians, as cheap labor, entered the country to work but not to integrate into society as such. Nativists do not have a clear explanation for why migrants ended up integrating into society at large, but the fact is that they did thoroughly, and they demand their rights, just like white people.
Today, the rejection of what the Trump-led movement calls “woke” culture (equality, integration, equity) is the offspring of the idea that “authentic” Americans are those who originated in Europe, and anything different does not represent them. Hence, the rejection of anything “non-European or non-white,” as it is considered foreign to their “original homeland.”
To emphasize the point, the Trump administration is about to welcome white migrants from South Africa, on the grounds that this predominantly black country discriminates against whites. This also has to do with the influence on the current administration of Elon Musk, who is originally from South Africa.
American nativism, then, starts from an exclusionary and racist point of view. It is a powerful force in the Trump administration, but racism in that country did not begin with Trump and will not end with him.
The so-called American exceptionalism was born in the nest of that nativism. The thesis that there is something exceptional about the gestation and consolidation of the United States comes from a racial root. Almost since the drafting of the US Constitution, being a “republic” rather than a “monarchy” was considered revolutionary in itself. That government was born revolutionary and therefore suited to spreading its model of government to other parts of the world. The idea of spreading the ideas of the revolutionary US government to its neighbors, specifically the Spanish colonies to the south, was not even taken seriously. Thus, Thomas Jefferson inspired the ideas contained in the constitutions of the future republics of Latin America. Therefore, exceptionalism was interpreted as expansionism. Hence, the United States was born with the idea that it had a mission to make itself great by preaching and, where possible, imposing its virtues on the world. The Monroe Doctrine is just that, and it applies to this day.
Trump’s expansionist pretensions are the current, and loquacious, way of saying and doing what the United States has always done. There is nothing new except the form; the substance is the same.
All of this, nativism and exceptionalism, is logically related to the economic and military protectionism of the United States. The Trump administration has a strategy called “Fortress USA.” The idea of protecting itself to the north, with Canada and Greenland, and to the south from the Panama Canal, embodies this idea of establishing strategic containment areas to prevent invasions, attacks, or the arrival of undesirables, specifically undocumented immigrants of all kinds.
Economically, the Trump administration promotes the protectionist idea that self-sufficiency is a primary goal that must be achieved. This gives rise to the notion of reindustrializing the United States, along with the promotion of relocation. His idea is to relocate industries within the United States, while offering to pay for the “relocation” of undocumented immigrants outside the country for the sum of $1,000 and a plane ticket. In short, the idea is that industries should establish themselves in the United States so that it can become self-sufficient, while undocumented immigrants are repatriated to their countries to halt the degradation of American society. It is, in essence, a model of protectionism that corresponds to Trump’s worldview.
Trump thinks that when the United States sounds its trumpet, the whole world is on alert, ready to react. That may have been true at one time, although I don’t fully believe it, but today things are not like that. And even less so with his administration, which only threatens and boasts, but neither delivers nor fully intimidates. His policy of imposing tariffs on everyone, only to regret it and withdraw them, will end up in the realm of the most ridiculous in history, a mere hint of a threat that will bring Trump into complete disrepute as a buffoon who has shown the world that he understands nothing. And that he does not deserve respect. Worse still, his country will lose face in the eyes of the international community.
Essentially, Trump thinks he has much more power than he really does. The United States is strong to the extent that it leads a coalition of countries. When it loses the leadership of that coalition, as Trump is losing it, its strength as a country rapidly diminishes. When Trump imposes tariffs on essential allies such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, they immediately sit at the table with China to share new economic opportunities. And behind those talks come discussions on shared maritime security issues and Taiwan’s strategic question. The United States, with its insolence, individualism, and arrogance, is rapidly losing ground.
Trump is being challenged by his traditional NATO allies in the case of Ukraine, after imposing tariffs on all European countries, while Putin was meeting in Moscow for his military parade, attended by China, Brazil, Cuba, and Venezuela, among others, he defended and praised his soldiers who invaded Ukraine.
At the same time, Zelensky met in Kyiv with all NATO countries, including Britain, Germany, and France. Speeches in Ukraine denounced Putin for his war crimes against humanity and demanded a total 30-day truce.
The United States was conspicuously absent and had no place in either Moscow or Kyiv, highlighting its isolation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Perhaps this is the great historical change they refer to when they talk about Trump and his government’s “revolution.” Still, it turns the United States into the weakest bully in contemporary history.
Of course, when he realizes his true situation and the chaos he has created, Trump, however short-sighted and ignorant, is capable of doing terribly destructive things. That is why it is necessary to limit and, as far as possible, control his worst instincts. But that responsibility lies with the American people.
@rpascoep
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