By Philip Yeung
Trump has an ego the size of the earth. These days, he has elbowed his way into a deluge of headlines. Trumpism comes at you in a torrent. This megalomaniac has a pathological need to hijack the world's attention 24/7. He wants everyone to pivot to him, deploying shock eyeball-grabbing tactics. His disastrous meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office left the world shell-shocked with anxieties dialed up. As long as all eyes are on him, that's all that matters.
Some tell us that Trump doesn't like wars. But he is waging war of another kind: tariffs war. So far, he has declared T-war on Canada, Mexico and China, with the EU next on his target. Come Tuesday, 25% tariffs will be slapped on Canadian and Mexican imports, with the originally announced 10% levies on Chinese goods doubled to 20%. All three countries have promised swift and painful reprisals. The market jitters are through the roof, and this is only the second month of his second administration. This is going to be four long years. Who will survive this white-knuckled roller-coaster ride?
Trump has undone eight decades of American alliance-building. Putin is the luckiest man on earth, with Trump as his gift from God. He has no use for NATO, and wants Ukraine gift-wrapped to Russia. In his wildest dream, Putin couldn't have asked for a bigger stroke of luck than Trump's second coming. He doesn't have to lift a finger. Trump is doing all the dirty work for him, dismantling Western alliances, with Putin's agenda outsourced to him, and the geopolitical deck reshuffled. Trump is worth more than 25 divisions and the nuclear arsenal to the Russian strongman. From now on, Putin doesn't need to make nuclear apocalypse threats. Trump is his best nuclear weapon—devastating and dependable, and best of all, unpredictable. No one knows which side of the bed he will get off in the morning, and what crazy ideas will take possession of him. He is free to live his indulgences, unencumbered. He can do anything he fancies, with no one and nothing to constrain him. The Republican Party leadership has been effectively neutered. Lindsey Graham and his ilk have all been chemically castrated. They are just Trump cultists, following him like moths into a fire.
The Chinese have a well-worn saying: "The crazy will soon be visited by catastrophe.". Well, catastrophe is just lurking around the corner. When the world is plunged into full-scale tariff war, turmoil will engulf all the hemispheres. Prices will go through the roof, goods will come off the shelves, and people will cry into their cups.
Trump makes no bones that he doesn't care two hoots about Europe. He just wants to extract the maximum benefits from his estranged Atlantic partner, making them carry a bigger burden of military spending, leaving them at the mercy of the Russian bear on the prowl. After the Trump-Zelensky fiasco in Washington, European leaders at the urging of Britain's Keir Starmer quickly convened a meeting to plan a common strategy over Ukraine. The rift with America will soon widen into a chasm. NATO's days are numbered and Europe is scrambling to adjust to the changed geopolitical landscape. Trump is unashamedly more pro-Putin than pro-EU. No one should harbor any illusion where America stands with respect to Europe against Russia. Western alliances have suddenly lost their strategic meaning. If anyone has any doubts about Trump's intentions in Europe, they have been quickly dispelled by Trump's noisy fish wife quarrel at the White House, a two-against-one slap-down for Putin's benefit.
To all intents and purposes, America has dealt itself out of the alliance business. Trump's lovey-dovey bosom buddy is Putin. The rest are just deal-makers for the American president to take advantage of. They are like putty in his hands. In Trump's world, there is no use for a moral compass. Just carry a big stick and behave like a big bad bully.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Diplomacy, Trump style
Opinion | Australia, you are barking up the wrong tree—China is not your enemy
Opinion | How to tame Trump—make it messy, lengthy and sleepy
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