There is a certain madness that seems to have overtaken US President Donald Trump. He has lost his bearings to put it politely in his latest post on Iran - “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
This has drawn condemnation from the people but there is a certain somnambulance that seems to have overtaken the Republican Party in the US that continues to support a President who is rapidly taking America into the gutter. The applause for Donald Trump in Republican Party meetings continues, with just the odd Senator speaking out against the man. In fact the military seems to have shown more courage, as the spate of ‘dismissals’ of top officers suggests.
Trump has been issuing a series of deadlines for Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz, along with almost lunatic “we will finish you” threats to “the war is over” declarations. His credibility is at an all time low, and the posts of the supposedly most powerful man in the world are now being ridiculed by serious commentators as the ravings and rantings of a man who has lost his mind. This is the more polite version of what is appearing in the media and social media in particular, as his popularity dips to the lowest of any American President within his own country.
However, he does not seem to care, as he moves from bad to worse. By his side is Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth who is in a role that he has little qualification for. And exerts the power that comes with the job to fire qualified US military commanders, instead of listening to them. Donald Trump’s Administration has been thrown into turmoil by the war against Iran, but despite the huge damage done to the US bases in the region, the loss of soldiers, and weapons and planes shot down by the country with no Air Force as he keeps saying, he is not being able to get out of the quagmire that Israel has created for him and America.
Original MAGA supporters like Tucker Carlson have been carrying out a strong and systematic campaign against Israel, warning of its manipulation and pressure on the US to wage its wars in West Asia as part of the Greater Israel project. Carlson and others have been urging Trump to move out of the war, and to focus on America that is fast losing power in the world. Trump’s response has been to counter attack the critics, as he moves deeper into the abyss that is fast closing around him and the US.
America today is losing its grip on the world, faster than anyone could have predicted. The war on Iran – a small sanctions hit country with little but courage to sustain it– has stripped the American emperor of all clothes. After Gaza, the US was hurt and the war on Iran seems to have strategically exposed the deep wounds. Growing by the day.
Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have fractured the global alignments and economy within a month. While the latter just does not care with opposition within Israel negligible, the Americans do care but clearly not enough to impeach Trump and rid themselves and the world of a man who has made himself unaccountable to public opinion or the law. NATO has been almost dissolved with the European countries following courageous Spain out of the American embrace. The late ones like France, Germany and of course the UK have turned under pressure from their own people, and the realisation that alignment with Trump at this stage will be completely destructive.
Trump’s West Asian allies —namely Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar – are finding the going tough. Faced with internal consequences as well, these compromised Arab regimes have realised that the US is unable and unwilling to defend their interests when the push becomes shove. Saudi Arabia has reached out to Iran; Qatar despite all the bribes it showered Trump with is showing signs of withdrawal; UAE is still battling on but given the fissures in the region might not be able to for long; and Bahrain is faced with the possibility of an uprising from within.
Every political indication is suggestive of new alignments and the fast strengthening of the Global South. Trump has torn asunder the world order that had placed the US on a pedestal of supremacy. And unless the Americans impeach the man they have chosen to represent them, the climb back to the top might take forever.