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US President Donald Trump came to office with the promise to end ongoing wars, smoothen geopolitical tussles, and make America great again.
Six months later, however, Trump has not just failed to end a war but has plunged the United States into a new one . Instead of smoothening geopolitics, he has launched a trade war and turned allies into adversaries. Instead of making America great again, he has driven country towards stagflation.
While his Make America Great Agan (Maga) base cheers him on regardless, allies and adversaries defy him alike. While Benjamin Netanyahu of Isreal bombs Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip at will in defiance of the White House’s positions, Vladimir Putin of Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine by refusing all peace proposals and pleadings from Trump to end the conflict.
ALSO READ — Maga at work: In New America, Trump is emperor and the world is up for grabs
Trump’s approval (or rather disapproval) rating sums up his term so far: 54 per cent Americans disapprove of his term and just 44 per cent approve it. The state of affairs is such that he has miffed people even on immigration, which has been his strongest domain for a long time.
Trump’s failure in Ukraine
Nowhere are Trump’s failure more visible than in Ukraine.
Trump came to office with the promise of ending the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Six months later, the war is nowhere close to an end.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsEven after Trump has floated sops after sops to Putin, ranging from renewed trade and dismantling US intelligence operations directed at Russia, Putin has refused to budge from his maximalist demands. Instead, empowered from Trump’s appeasement, Putin has not just doubled down on his maximalist term but has expanded them . He has also rejected all three ceasefire proposals floated by Trump — Ukraine has accepted all of them.
The result is that even though Trump has reset generations of US foreign policy by aligning himself with Putin, the Russian leader has not offered any reciprocity and has left Trump red-faced at the world stage.
ALSO READ: Trump’s 50-day tariff threat to Russia could mean a licence for Putin to execute his Ukraine plan
With his de facto alliance with Trump, he has also alienated European partners, who are now not just on a rearmament spree but are also looking forward to replace US companies in strategic areas with alternative. For example, Poland has sought to replace the likes of Starlink and Maxar with alternatives and the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan are making a fifth-generation fighter plane without US involvement.
Israel attacks country after country
Just like Ukraine, Trump has failed to end the war in Gaza. He has also faltered on his top promise of not starting a war.
However, just months into the first term, Trump plunged the United States into a new war when he joined Israel in the war on Iran last month. Even though Israel started the war, the United States delivered the most decisive blows to Iran's nuclear sites .
Even though Trump has struck a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis and is reaching out to Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa, Netanyahu has continued to attack Houthis, the regime in Syria, and even carry out strikes inside Lebanon despite a ceasefire. Netanyahu has also expanded the war in Gaza that has complicated peace talks.
The CNN has reported that Trump was caught off-guard last week with Israeli strikes in Syria and Gaza.
To sum it up, far from ending the war in Gaza, Trump not just plunged the United States into a new war with Iran but also failed to rein in Netanyahu who continue to bomb a different country in the region every week.
Trump’s crackdown on free speech — after championing it
For much of the campaign, Trump and his Maga base accused the mainstream media and internet giants for curbing social media.
When social media platforms and media fact-checked Trump and his extremist supporters’ false claims or blocked their hate speech, they accused the media and social media platforms of bias and censorship. After assuming office, however, the Trump administration has sought to crush descent.
Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has fired analysts whose assessments she did not like, woman and black leaders have been fired over their gender and race, and people have been denied entry into the United States over memes. Moreover, the new visa policy seeks to review people’s social media and anything critical of Trump or Maga is set to ban you from entering the country.
After Elon Musk’s ownership, X (formerly Twitter) has become a far-right bastion. Under Musk’s control, X has promoted the far-right agenda much more openly than Trump and his supporters accused the mainstream media of pushing the Democratic Party’s agenda.
Trump’s assaults on independent institutions
While Trump’s authoritarian tendencies were not a secret in his first term, the second term has seen a complete transition from a president into an emperor.
While he had independent-thinking advisers checking his impulses and Congress pressuring him in his first term, Trump has a total control of the government now : both the Senate and House of Representatives have Republican majorities and the Supreme Court is in his pocket with a 6:3 conservative majority.
Trump has also captured all institutions: he has fired watchdogs , turned the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into his personal sword-arms, and attacked the independence of the Federal Reserve.
Trump has also fired entire departments and removed entire offices doing critical roles at the defence and state departments.
Trump is not winning trade war
Trump’s signature tariff war on the world appears to have backfired.
Trump expected to raise $6 trillion in revenues a year from tariffs. Six years later, he has only raised $47 billion.
For context, there are 1,000 billion in 1 trillion.
On the back of near-monopoly in rare earths supply, China has already forced Trump to blink . Under pressure from China, whose hold on rare earths threatened to choke virtually every industry across the world, Trump relaxed export controls related to China’s access to semiconductors and chip designing.
Moreover, tariffs coupled with mass-firing have led to fears that stagflation might be on the horizon.
Trump turns allies into adversaries
Trump has turned traditional allies into enemies whereas he has sought friends in traditional adversaries.
Consider this: Trump has threatened to invade and annex Denmark’s Greenland island. He has slapped high tariffs on allies like South Korea and Japan but has completely spared Russia and imposed minimal tariffs on Iran. He has also vowed to annex Canada. He has also withdrawn from Europe and made Asia anxious.
ALSO READ: Is Putin using Trump to kill Nato?
While Trump has long been skeptical of Nato, he has now put Aukus pact with Australia and the UK at risk as well.
Trump has also aligned himself with a band of jihadist and Islamist regimes from West Asia to Central Asia that have long found a common foe in India. He has constantly repeated Pakistan’s position in the India-Pakistan conflict in May.
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