A world with Trump’s authoritarian taste | Notice

Donald Trump achieved his goal even though he spent only a year at Casa Blanca. You are like an absolute king; This is exactly what the framers of the Constitution wanted to avoid in 1787. Recognized specialists in democracies have recognized involution as a form of authoritarianism in the manner of Hungary, Venezuela or Turkey. The leader of the free world that I presumed is becoming an authoritarian and proselytizing leader, as expressed in the new national security strategy that Trump wants to shape as he wishes on the international scene.

For North Americans Steven Levitsky, Lucan A. Way and Daniel Ziblatt, it is a “competitive authoritarianism”, “in which parties compete for elections, but government officials regularly abuse their power to punish critics and tip the scales against the opposition”. Even if their forms of expression include “reminiscences of the military dictatorships of the 1970s”, they nevertheless believe that the authoritarian offensive is reversible.

La Casa Blanca now takes no steps without putting authoritarianism at the forefront. Unlike similar strategies of previous presidents, nothing can be proposed now that does not mean greater glory for Trump and exclusively protects the interests of the United States. The outside world is interesting as a field of authoritarian expansion, governed by economic advantage and even a personal code. The rest, without human rights or any type of political regime, lacks relevance.

In Trump’s world, governed by the law of force, there are only three strong men. They negotiate with each other, if shared and directed. Its Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and the like. Inspired by your case Monroe Doctrine (“America for the Americans”), the entire American continent is reserved, treated as a national and sovereign space, to end migration, suppress drug trafficking, maintain order, control strategic resources and prevent the penetration of competitors entering its geography.

Trump feels like the successor to President Theodore Roosevelt, who gave his name in 1904 as a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, himself demanding interference in the internal affairs of Latin American countries. If this inspired political and military interventionism during the 20th century, Trump’s corollary today has fostered a network of regimes friendly and complacent with Trumpist policies and maximum pressure, including military, on nations. Added to his annexationist impulses in Canada and Greenland, the backyard patio that Trump imagines comes together and promises enormous benefits.

In the puzzle of all the presidents who are in the Middle East, want the security of the local brothers and obtain relief from the big companies, associated with the despots of the place. Just like in Africa, there is no need to intimidate local governors, worry about the expansion of liberal values ​​or maintain development aid, without obtaining business opportunities, mining resources and reliable partners, in addition to maintaining the fight against rebels.

In the rest of the world, there is only one strategic enemy worth mentioning. Neither Russia nor China. In North Korea, in Iran. This is Europe. This document was approved in both Moscow and Beijing, contrary to the indignation aroused among the majority of Europeans. In the Russian case, with the Ukrainian war in the background, there is a particular annoyance due to the accusation of weak Europeans of having consented to the “jamming” of their civilization. There are also reasons for satisfaction with China, declared an economic and technological rival and eager to establish “mutually beneficial relations”.

Faced with Chinese ambitions on Taiwan, Trump defends himself status quojust as previous administrations opposed both annexation and independence, but expresses its refusal of any unilateral initiatives. Knowing his volubility, his contempt for democracy and his mercantilist art of negotiation, he could calmly accept the annexation of the island if he obtained good compensation. There are currently signs of weakness in the foreign war and appeasement gestures towards Xi Jinping.

Trumpism and Putinism are simply different. They share their contempt for Europe, the desire of certain nation-states to be jealous of their sovereignty and their borders, the promotion of far-right supremacist populism, destructive aims towards the EU and even the rejection of its normative power. There is no mention of Russia in the document, a dangerous power in Trump’s previous strategy, and it is now only mentioned because many Europeans view it as an existential threat.

A single sentence from Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman illuminates the mystery of such light anti-Europeanism: “Trump and his people hate Europe and hate them because they still honor the ideals they abandon to the United States.”