An account of the state of American politics
Only a month into the second Trump presidency, it feels like it has been 30 months. While the early days of his first term were mired in disorganisation and uncertainty, he has not made the same mistakes. Instead, the administration has moved at an unprecedented speed in American politics. Because of this, it is very easy to miss some of his newest policy points, which hold consequences that will be felt worldwide for years to come.
The end of USAID:
Founded in 1961 by the JFK administration, USAID has spent the last 60 years working to eradicate world poverty through countless healthcare programs. In a matter of days, this $40 billion organisation ground to a halt as Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed a 90-day freeze on all foreign assistance, except for some emergency food aid and military funding in Israel and Egypt. This came after President Trump and Elon Musk criticised the organisation for a perceived waste of funds, referring to USAID as “incompetent and corrupt” and as a “criminal organisation.” While it is inevitable that some funds in a $40 billion organisation will fall by the wayside, the extent to which Musk and Trump accuse it of wasting funds is vastly hyperbolic.
The Trump government’s claims that USAID funded a DEI musical in Ireland and a transgender opera in Colombia are false (as such projects were funded by separate organisations); as a result, hundreds of life-saving programs have been halted. The Al-Hol displacement camp in Northeast Syria, home to 40 000 refugees, had been funded by USAID until recently. Without funding, it has struggled to maintain food and water supplies. HIV treatments have been suspended in 50 countries, as well as the development and administration of malaria vaccines, raising fears amongst medical experts that nations in poverty could experience significant resurgences in disease outbreaks. 40 percent of the world’s development aid came from USAID, and while it may not have been perfect, Trump and Musk have provided little evidence for why it no longer fulfills its purpose. Without it, people already on the brink will be pushed further into an unending cycle of poverty, all while American soft power takes a hit. USAID was crucial in maintaining large parts of the Jordanian infrastructure, including its education sector, allowing the US a crucial ally in the Middle East where they already have few. Without such abundant aid, there is little stopping Jordan from turning to other countries to fill the funding void: they might ally themselves with an American enemy like China and join their belts and roads project as a way to promote growth.
Mass deportations:
Mass deportations are nothing new in twenty-first-century American politics. Despite his vehement rhetoric against illegal immigration, the first Trump administration deported fewer immigrants than Obama’s government. So far, that trend is continuing. As of February 21, Trump has deported 37 660 people, quite a way down from the 57 000 per month average seen during the final year of Biden’s presidency. That being said, Biden also experienced historically high illegal immigration numbers, and those within the Trump administration have signalled their intent to raise deportation rates in the coming months. These deportations will be aided by the mass mobilisation of the military, Justice Department, State Department, and the IRS to further Trump’s goal of ending illegal immigration in America. Many recent arrivals at the border from Venezuela are already being sent to Guantanamo Bay via military transportation.
The Trump administration’s approach to deportations is unprecedented in its execution. While Obama and Biden deported high numbers, they desired to maintain a sense of human decency and fairness while conducting such operations out of the public eye. In contrast, not only is Trump mobilising much of the American government to aid in his efforts, but he has also enlisted far-right activists and media personalities to document and sensationalise the deportations. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin was given exclusive access to an ICE operation in Boston, turning the operations into what immigration campaigners referred to as a “reality show” and a “deliberate strategy to desensitise the public.”
At the present rate, it would take another 17 years for Trump to deport all illegal immigrants from America. But, the rhetoric he and his government have projected onto the immigration debate, claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America, sets a worrying precedent for a country that is, at its core, a nation of immigrants.
Attack on allying nations:
The MAGA movement that led Trump to victory was built on the principle of putting America first. It was steeped in the tradition of American isolationism, which goes back to George Washington’s calls for the nation to remove itself from European affairs. America has been the hegemonic power shaping the global order for the last century. Yet, just a month in, Trump has already diminished US power by approaching foreign policy in what can be best summed up as ‘treating your friends as your enemies and your enemies as your friends.’ First, he attacked Mexico and Canada, two of America’s closest allies, over trade deficits, threatening to implement tariffs that risk igniting a crippling trade war between these nations. Within the Americas, his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America has further harmed an already fragile relationship with Mexico, as Trump has constantly branded it a nation of criminals and illegal immigrants. He also pressured Panama to return the Panama Canal to American ownership despite it being a part of Panama since President Jimmy Carter signed treaties in 1977 promising to hand it over by 1999.
From here, Trump’s effort to upset the international apple cart only increased when Vice President JD Vance delivered a speech attacking European allies at the Munich Security Conference for undermining freedom and democracy. To many in Europe, this speech has shown them that they can no longer rely on America as an ally, particularly after Trump commented on the war in Ukraine. He referred to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and blamed Ukraine for starting the war, despite the war beginning with a Russian invasion. He has also begun preliminary peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, excluding Ukraine and European allies from such conversations. Since the end of the Second World War, Europe has relied, perhaps too heavily, on the US for its military protection. This seems to no longer be the case, with many calling into question the validity of Article 5 of the NATO constitution under a US president who openly flirts with Putin’s authoritarian regime.
In regards to Palestine:
Trump promised his supporters that he would end both the major wars in Ukraine and Gaza when he took office. So far, he has failed to do so, and with his comments on the Ukrainian war threatening to prevent any form of peace for those involved, his comments on the future of Palestine are no less worrying. Concerns were first raised when he appointed Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who denies the existence of a Palestinian state, as the ambassador to Israel. These concerns were proven correct when Trump declared his intentions to “own” Gaza while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has stated his plans to redevelop the Gaza Strip as a tourist resort operated by the American government, all while Palestinians are resettled in Egypt and Jordan. While America’s allies have been careful to tiptoe around Trump for fear of upsetting him, there has been near universal condemnation for this plan; it amounts to ethnic cleansing and offers little in the way of solving a conflict that has been raging for over 70 years. It also continues a trend in which Trump openly pines for an American empire. His comments about acquiring Greenland and Canada hardly uphold his promise of putting America first and plunge the world order into further uncertainty.
The Erosion of Democracy:
America is a nation where the judiciary is at the heart of the balance of power, as part of the rigorous set of checks and balances that maintains American democracy—checks to power that Trump is now working to remove. He has signed more executive orders than any president since FDR in his first 100 days, a maneuver characterised as a ‘shock and awe’ tactic where he pushes so much through that opponents do not have the time to challenge it all. Some of these executive orders pose existential questions to the Constitution that underpins American life, such as the order to end birthright citizenship. If the Supreme Court does not overturn this particular order, the very authority of the Constitution is at risk.
Checks and balances have further been eroded through the firing of 18 inspector generals who are supposed to independently investigate government corruption. Dissenting Republican members of Congress have been threatened with being primaried in the mid-terms and also fear that if they turn against Trump, he will set the MAGA faithful against them to threaten their lives and their families. Perhaps most bluntly, Trump suspended corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams after he came out in support of the president and agreed to aid in his deportation schemes. JD Vance has once again been making inflammatory comments on behalf of the President on the limits of the president’s power. He proclaimed that no judge has the right to block an executive decision, a chilling reminder that this administration is openly flirting with authoritarianism—potentially even oligarchy, given the long list of billionaires wanting to kiss the Trump ring.
The US is undergoing unprecedented radical changes that may never be completely undone. Central to all these modifications is the destabilisation of democratic norms, creating parallels with the ways other nations begin their slides into authoritarianism.
The rest of the world is still coming to terms with this shift, asking themselves if they should remain by the side of the US, or if now is the time for Europe and other regions to form greater alliances amongst themselves. The most critical question now is what the American opposition will look like going forward, as the Democratic party has yet to offer a coherent and united campaign to counter government policies. What remains clear is that, if American Democracy is to preserve its strength, it is up to those who hold it dear to fight and push against an agenda that calls into question such freedom, whether from the Democrats or anyone else.
