Opinion | Bracing for Trump 2.0
By Philip Yeung, university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
The verb on every leader's lip following Trump's electoral victory is "brace", as in airplane passengers bracing for a crash landing. In nearly every corner of an uneasy world, everyone is busy bracing for Trump's ridiculous resumption of power. The BRIC's are bracing for it, with Trump threatening to slap them with a 100% tariff if they dare to boycott the greenback in trade.
America's next-door neighbors are trembling in their boots. The Canadians are cowering, with their prime minister making a mad dash for Mar-a-Largo to kow-tow to Trump. When Justin Trudeau sheepishly told him that a threatened 25% tariff on Canadian exports to the US will kill the Canadian economy, Trump reportedly said mockingly that Canada has the option of becoming America's 51st state, with Trudeau himself as governor. This is a far cry from the heyday of Justin's father when Pierre adroitly walked the tight rope while pursuing an independent foreign policy. Trudeau Jr. lacks his dad's street smarts. He fell head-first into a Trump trap by sacrificing Canada's established tradition of befriending China. He foolishly executed Trump's legally questionable warrant for the arrest of Huawei's CFO. Sino-Canadian relations have never recovered from this low-level blunder, a trap only a brainless leader would fall into. Trudeau, a former barroom bouncer, is hopelessly outmatched by the street-cunning of a big, bad bully. His geopolitical IQ's are juvenile and underwater.
Also left twisting in the wind is the Mexican president who has to quickly deploy her feminine charms to seduce the oversexed Donald, trying to outdo Canada in currying favor with Trump. They are starting to accuse each other of betrayal. A born bully, Trump loves playing this "divide and conquer" game, with his neighbors fighting to remain in his good graces. A former Mexican leader said it best, bemoaning that his country has the misfortune of being "too far from God and too close to the United States." With Trump reoccupying the White House, that lament is getting louder.
Things are just as anxiety-provoking within America itself. Swarms of Americans are googling the requirements for emigrating to Canada. A New York senator has dangled the fanciful idea that four of its blue states close to the Canadian border should secede and join Canada to escape the Trump curse. Such is the deep-blue mood that is sweeping the blue states.
Across the pond, Europe is hyperventilating. The very existence of NATO itself is in doubt, and with it the American shield against Russia. Perhaps no European country is more distressed than Ukraine, about to become Trump's sacrificial lamb to Putin. Trump is God's gift to the Russian leader who reportedly has the goods on the adult things that rollicked between Trump and ladies of the night--courtesy of hidden cameras in his Moscow hotel suite.
China, too, is hunkering down. Tough tariff is in the cards. But tariff is a double-edged sword; it may bleed America more than it cuts China, in heating up US inflation. Higher prices will burn a hole in the pockets of US consumers.
Without a doubt, the endangered Palestinians, living in an open-air prison, have the most to lose, with starvation used as a weapon against them. Earth itself is a big loser, blindly led by a scientifically illiterate climate denier. The pandemic claimed over a million American lives. Uncle Sam has never been vaccinated against stupidity.
People say that lousy Trump is not all bad. After all, he is a crooked businessman who cares more about making money than making wars. Maybe so. But the poor Palestinians and Ukrainians will beg to differ.
Who then are the lucky winners of a Trump tenancy in the White House? Putin, the poodle owner, for sure, followed by the likes of Elon Musk, and maybe Kim Jong-Un, North Korea's dear leader. Trump has a soft spot for nuclear-capable maximum leaders. The rest of us can only pray for crumbs of decency from an occasional outbreak of his underdeveloped sanity.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | The hocus-pocus of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution—rebels with a phony cause
Opinion | Trump is an America-first hawk, rules are for the birds
Opinion | The second coming of the Anti-Christ is here—Can the end of the world be near?
Comment