When power knows no bounds: How Trump’s imperial ambition is upending rule-based global order

US President Donald Trump’s imperial ambitions are now an open secret after he revealed his intentions in his recent interview with The New York Times. He has bragged that only his mind and morality can restrain him and no one else. He has displayed no interest in abiding by international law.

There is no dispute over the fact that the President of the United States has enormous power under the American Constitution and that when a president becomes determined, he has many ways of defying the principles of “separation of powers” and the principle of “checks and balances” provided by various provisions in the Constitution.

In addition, the United States, by dint of its status as a superpower with unparalleled military prowess and economic resources, technological advances and innovative research in almost all frontiers of military and civilian technology, has global presence and unparalleled influence over global affairs. It attracts talent, tourists, investors and traders from around the world and has an economic edge over its main military rivals and military edge over its trade partners.

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While many scholars of international relations debated for years on the relative decline of the United States and the rise of China as another superpower, President Trump in his second term has displayed the strength of his country through the weaponisation of trade and tariffs and by flexing military muscle in Latin America, West Asia and Africa. By taking steps to punish countries that would not toe his line, President Trump appears to have shown his intense desire to be the unchallenged monarch of the world. By bombing Iranian nuclear facilities, capturing the President of Venezuela and flying him to New York to subject him to judicial trial; by threatening to send troops to Mexico to fight the drug cartels; by warning Colombia and Cuba with military action; by showing his resolve to take over Greenland by any means and several other measures, President Trump now believes that he will run the world as an emperor.

The global order today faces a major challenge from a country that until recently propagated a narrative of “democracy and rule of law”. International trade laws have been thrown to the wind and UN legitimacy has been undermined by President Trump, and there is no resistance yet from any country or group of countries.

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Unfortunately, the current domestic political ecosystem has also remained unsuccessful in restraining presidential power. Both Houses of the US Congress have a Republican majority and Trump has unchallenged domination over the Republican Party. The American judiciary also appears powerless. A majority of the Appeals Courts in the US have judges appointed by President Trump or his predecessors in the Republican Party. They have overruled verdicts against Trump’s policies challenged in the Trial Courts.

The US Supreme Court also has conservative judges in the majority and it has yet to restrain presidential powers by delaying judgements on critical cases, particularly the tariff policy of Trump under the 1977 Emergency Power Act. Democratic-ruled states in the US have rushed to courts to challenge certain Trumpian activities and policies, yet have remained ineffective in checking the unbridled powers of the White House. Massive popular movements in numerous cities in the US too have failed to produce any positive outcomes.

Uncontrolled at home, President Trump’s adventures abroad have frightened smaller and weaker countries, especially those currently targeted by him. Russia has been too engrossed in safeguarding its interests and minimising losses in Ukraine to challenge US power. China has amassed enormous military power and economic capabilities, yet its trade and investment interdependence with the United States restricts its ability to be an effective Cold Warrior like the former Soviet Union. The European powers do not want to see the demise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and at the same time remain militarily powerless to contest either the Trumpian adventures or Russian strength.

Who can then deal with an American President who appears intent on dismantling the global order and creating a new order that would be unipolar with himself on the top? Is the world going to witness a new kind of colonialism or imperialism? President Trump appointing himself as the Acting President of Venezuela and expressing his desire to see his Secretary of State as the President of Cuba are instructive in this regard.

US history is full of instances where one witnesses the fact that it is easy to conquer a country but difficult to rule forever. Trump’s predecessors experienced how after three years of war in the Korean Peninsula, the US did not emerge as the victor. The prolonged war in Vietnam did not lead to US victory. More recently, the US along with its Nato allies failed to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan after about two decades of military boots on the ground.

That he has been unable to bring about even a nominal ceasefire in Ukraine after about a year in office, and that his role in other ceasefire agreements, such as between Cambodia and Thailand, has been short-lived, and that his claimed victory over ISIS in his first term turned out to be transitory too—thus inducing him to battle ISIS even now—are sober lessons that President Trump should have the time to reflect upon.

Trump’s political behaviour reminds one of what Lord John Emerich Edward Acton, the 19th-century historian, famously said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The ill-fated aspect of this is the predictable fact that many Trumpian policies will damage the interests of the American people, American institutions and the positive aspects of global order and globalisation.

One hopes that American democratic institutions and people at large will be able to restrain the unrestrained activities of the Trump White House. Trump may be able to defy international law, but he has to play by the rule book in his home country.

(The writer is founder chairperson, Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, and Editor, India Quarterly. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)