Donald Trump’s polarising rhetoric has turned the United States of America into the Divided States of America. His ‘outrageous lies,’ exaggerated claims and ‘empty promises’ have turned America into a country at war with itself.
Why would Americans who claim to be patriotic cast their vote for a man who refused to participate in a peaceful transfer of power and incited the Capitol Hill insurrection? Why would American women cast their vote in favour of a man found guilty of sexual assault as their representative? How can Americans vote for a man who mimes a sexual act at a campaign rally?
Should Americans choose Donald Trump as their next President, their country will be a diminished democracy. The world’s largest economy and the biggest military power will turn into an authoritarian state—just as Putin, Xi and many of America’s adversaries would want.
If Donald Trump gets elected, his presidency will jeopardise the fundamental tenets of America’s international relations. Will a self-respecting leader of a country ally with a nation headed by a serial sexual abuser and a convicted felon? Will foreign diplomats take American diplomats seriously if they represent a morally bankrupt president? American diplomats, for instance, will have no right to lecture other countries about gender equality if they represent a man found guilty of serial sexual abuse.
Even if nations ally with the United States for geopolitical compulsions, will they do so with confidence that the United States will stand by its international commitments with Donald Trump as President? Perhaps not.
Case in point: the manner in which Donald Trump, then President, unilaterally pulled the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), a ‘binding international legal framework,’ by simply saying it ‘is not a treaty or an executive agreement.’ Mike Pompeo, then Secretary of State, stated:
We don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. The previous administration put them on a pathway that virtually guaranteed that they could get there. So, we withdrew from the ridiculous JCPOA and are moving ourselves to a set of policies which will convince Iran to behave simply like a normal nation.
Their reckless decision, without regard for its international commitments, is testimony to how America’s domestic politics have an over-arching impact on global affairs.
If Donald Trump gets elected, will America’s friends and allies, particularly NATO member states, be assured that the United States will abide by its commitments? As a member of NATO, the United States has a commitment, under Article 5, to defend other members if any other country attacks them. So far, the Biden administration has led NATO in supporting Ukraine with military and financial assistance to prevent total subjugation to Russia.
However, if Trump becomes president for the second term, he is likely to leave NATO or weaken it through tepid support. Given Trump’s proclivity to Russia, will the NATO member states risk trusting the United States? Or will they expect him to pressure Kyiv to accept peace that will benefit Russia? Possibly the latter.
The United States has also forged trilateral cooperation with Japan and South Korea to ‘make the world a safer place.’ The cooperation is intended to ‘strengthen ballistic missile defense cooperation’, ‘speed up information sharing on North Korea’s missile launches and cyber activities,’ and ‘coordinate their responses whenever there is a crisis in the region.’ Furthermore, the three countries ‘reaffirmed their commitments to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and address economic coercion.’
However, if Trump is elected president, will the two countries—Japan and South Korea—be able to trust that the United States will meet its commitments? Given Trump’s track record with North Korea, they will likely make alternate arrangements that could undermine America’s interests in the region.
Similarly, the United States has made a commitment to defend Taiwan. However, Trump repeatedly weakened the U.S. commitment to the island by saying, “Taiwan should pay us for defence. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company.” Will the Taiwanese take America’s commitments seriously? Perhaps not.
Furthermore, Trump’s plans to impose a blanket twenty per cent tariff on all imports and tariffs ranging from sixty to two hundred per cent on China are likely to trigger retaliatory trade wars that will set off an inflationary trend, damage the American economy and jeopardise America’s position in the world economy.
Moreover, a Trump presidency will likely scuttle America’s path-breaking achievements in implementing essential environmental laws and climate change policies. He has unashamedly peddled conspiracy theories about environmental protection and the challenges posed by climate change. If elected president, domestically, he will rescind environmental laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s during the administrations of John F Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
He will not only dismantle and circumscribe America’s domestic environmental agencies (such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) but will also walk out of critical international commitments like the Paris Agreement on climate change. If he becomes President of the United States, he will deregulate fracking, authorise unrestricted exploitation of U.S. oil and gas deposits, add tonnes of extra carbon to the atmosphere and curtail the transition to a zero-carbon economy – taking America back by decades.
That millions of Americans support his candidacy and root for him to be the President of the United States for the second term is a reflection of the sorry state of the ‘world’s oldest democracy.’ If American voters elect Trump as the next president of the United States, the country that has inspired the world since 1776 will become a diminished democracy on the world stage. His election would be a grave mistake that would begin the end of democracy in the United States of America.
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