Assessing the US under Donald Trump
By: COL Dencio S Acop (Ret), PhD, CPP | Published: May 22, 2025
Reading Time: 7 minutes
The United States is the superpower of the world. It is where it is today because of what its great leaders and citizens did over the centuries from its inception. Founded by “In God We Trust”, America has emerged to be the country with the best functioning governance balanced between societal values and political power. Guided by utilitarian ethics of the greatest good for the greatest number, the country has modeled democratic principles to the world championing human rights.
World Wars I and II made America realize that if it was to survive, it needed to champion democratic peace to prevent World War III. This great nation learned that to accomplish such a goal, it must help develop the world along the same path it was on. Isolation was no longer the answer. Embracing its fate as global leader was the answer.
This meant uniting humanity who share the same human rights. It also meant protecting this same humanity and their shared values. And it most certainly meant itself modeling humanity’s utmost values to win more adherents by gaining the world’s trust and confidence. By doing these, America would be great — not because it achieved its national interest at the expense of the world’s — but because it inspired the world to its ideals. And America was great, until Donald Trump.
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The first sign that America is failing its global leadership under Donald Trump can be seen in its policy option to divide rather than unite the world. In their desire to contain China, the Republican Party chose Trump because these Americans thought he is the guy that can get the job done. And Trump is getting the job done with his tariff war designed to weaken China’s economy. Unfortunately, this cure began to be administered by the Trump administration has side effects that are now appearing to be worse than the disease.
Globalization was an economic strategy engineered by the Clinton administration to open up overseas markets for U.S. surplus goods. It worked and not only did it revive the U.S. economy but it also encouraged global free trade. Globalization was in line with America’s leadership of the free world. It was also a foreign policy strategy to influence China into joining the ranks of the free world began by the Nixon administration.
As “most favored nation”, China’s economy grew like no other. But where the democratic peace succeeded with the U.S.S.R., it massively failed with China. The Tiananmen Square massacre was China’s clear refusal to “convert” from Communism to Democracy. Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party today manifest China’s unequivocal challenge to the supremacy of the United States. Trump’s attempts to bring back Comparative Advantage may weaken China’s economy to some extent.
But the strategy also has its disadvantages. The tariff war not only impacts China adversely but every other country as well including the U.S. and its allies everywhere. You’ve probably seen even the huge department stores closing down. Where do you think these chain stores get most of their imports from when most goods are made in China? The Trump administration has made other moves to divide the world than unite it. Leaving N.A.T.O. is one.
Antagonizing Canada and Mexico is another. Ignoring the Paris Earth Summit is yet another. Domestically, unitive initiatives are being abandoned. In today’s world especially, more harm is done by being dismissive than inclusive. The idealist option has more strategic value because it brings in all parties concerned and resolves problems through dialogue and mutual respect. The realist option, on the other hand, thinks that might is right but in so doing creates more enemies than allies, foreign or domestic. Even with the China option, what good would it do America if it was to assert itself over China but also lose its allies and most especially its own soul?
The second symptom of the Trump administration’s falling global leadership is its inability to protect the free world and its values. America under Trump is no longer the leader of the free world. This was made clear when the U.S. abandoned Ukraine in its war with Russia. While it can be said that Trump may have valid reasons for leaving the side of Ukraine and N.A.T.O., no reason is more validly important than championing the cause of freedom especially as leader of the moral order.
In fact, Trump’s moves have even domestic Americans confused. While he portrays himself as a leader who will “make America great again” before the American people, he seems to be achieving the exact opposite. The Constitution is quite clear on what America’s values are. Thus far, past American leaders have generally protected America’s values extending them to allies willing to adopt them for their own countries and peoples.
Trump has managed to bring America’s centrist politics to the far right now that he is back in power. The Republican Party arguably believes that the Democrats have brought America to the far left of center blaming it as softness that has allowed America’s enemies to infiltrate the country undermining it from within. While the constitutional rights of Americans are used by the federal government to justify the radical policy shifts it now pursues, the same rights are likewise invoked by adversely impacted stakeholders across states. Liberal policies and institutions have been targeted by the Trump administration under the guise of radical reforms in the policy areas of finance, immigration, defense, security, trade, and diplomacy among others.
America is the undisputed leader of the free world. But today, persecuted refugees from allied countries suffering from wars can no longer be helped by U.S. – based humanitarian aid organizations because Trump has stopped almost all federal funding support for charity. There are a lot more of these unfortunate developments in the news. So, the real question is: If the U.S. is no longer the leader of the moral order and the free world, what is it?
Finally, the U.S. was great because it led by good example. It epitomized moral values, championed human rights, and defended democracies all over the world. It got involved in the world in both word and action. It exported the most ideal institutions and its moral values to the world. America was already great. Greatness is not a political punchline. It is achieved by selflessly helping all Americans within the various states who cannot help themselves whatever their creed or color. It is advanced by selflessly helping the poor and weak countries who want to embrace genuine democracy for their long-suffering peoples.
The old America already achieved this and wanted to even do more. If what we see now is the new America under Trump, then it would seem like the old benevolent America is now gone replaced by a selfish, self-righteous America. Like any problem solving process in organization and management, the way to resolve contending issues in a vibrant democracy is through incremental and not radical change. America is a mature democracy. It does not need Reboot 101 or martial law to fix its internal problems. Its hard institutions can take on any legal challenges such as the ones addressed by Trump using a radical approach. It must be pointed out that if Trump’s success rate as a businessman is to be the model, then God help America because his record isn’t too encouraging. America does not need a dictator to solve its problems. It needs a democracy — one it already had — until Trump.
In sum, Donald Trump inherited an already great America when he came to power. With what Trump is doing to America, the question is no longer: Will Trump make America great again? It has become: What will America be like after Trump?
Before Trump, America was the global leader of the free world championing the moral order. It united the world’s democracies protecting them even with American blood. America was effective because it led by good example winning the hearts and minds of peace-loving humanity hungry for the same values and ideals for their own countries and peoples as those espoused by America.
While Trump-supporting Americans had hoped for incremental changes favoring their interests, they are getting instead radical changes further dividing the country and even the world. Are these radical changes from America’s top leadership really the answer to China, challenges to the moral order, and world peace?
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