Updated on 24 November
By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
For the last four years, right from his inauguration, the world lived with the tremendous uncertainty that Donald J. Trump’s presidency created about the U.S. role in world affairs. During this critical time, this journal attempted to convey to its readers the analysis and information to understand the international implications of Trump’s presidency, and how the world was changing before our very eyes.
Now once again, as the U.S. prepares to inaugurate a new president on January 20, The People’s Review is committed to informing you about how the Joe Biden presidency will change U.S. foreign policy and the global order in the coming four years.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has finally informed President-elect Joe Biden that the Trump administration is [belatedly] ready to begin the transition process.
In another highly significant development, Biden has chosen a loyal lieutenant to lead the mission to restore America’s reputation on the world stage. Antony Blinken is to be the new Secretary of State – with an impeccable commitment to international cooperation and a reputation of being ‘the diplomat’s diplomat’ [we will have more in next week’s column].
Trump’s Terrible Legacy
The new administration will undoubtedly reject much of Trump’s approach and policies which were itself a radical break from hallowed U.S. foreign policy traditions.
But a total restoration of the U.S. global role before Trump assumed power is neither feasible nor appropriate. The world has changed too much in multi-dimensional ways.
Considering Trump’s misguided ‘America First’ & ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) – pseudo-isolationist and American Exceptionalism approaches – it does not seem realistic that even aspects of his foreign policy are worth retaining.
Domestic politics are inextricable from the foreign policy aspects and Trump’s was a colossal failure in both domains. Our editors and analysts will examine these questions and their ramifications as we move from the Trump to the Biden administrations. These will deeply impact our lives, even as we cannot influence the decision-making process in the [still] most powerful nation on earth.
It seems that Trump has only one thought in mind – not to ameliorate the terrible effects of the coronavirus pandemic – but foster foreign policy chaos in the final days of his presidency.
Fears that he might try to wreak havoc on the world stage in his final, desperate weeks in office were indeed well-founded given that he asked his high-ranking military officials for options on bombing Iran’s nuclear sites ( Julian Borger/The Guardian, Nov. 18).
According to a report in The New York Times (NYT), senior officials advised against such a strike, warning of a risk of triggering a major regional conflict, since in such a scenario, Iran would definitely retaliate with targets of its own choosing and with unintended consequences. However, Trump may not have entirely given up on the idea of staging attacks on Iran or its allies and proxies in the region.
Simultaneously, Trump’s newly installed defence secretary, Christopher Miller, confirmed that the U.S. would rapidly scale down its military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 troops in each country, rejecting concerns even from his own Senate Republicans, that an abrupt withdrawal in Afghanistan could derail the ongoing peace talks in Doha between the Afghan government and the Taliban by encouraging the insurgents that they could win the civil war without a peace agreement. In any case, they have not respected the interim agreement to tone down their violence. It is quite possible that their various factions are split.
These developments came days after Trump removed Mark Esper, who as defence secretary had argued against a rapid departure from Afghanistan, and installed his own loyalists in the Pentagon and National Security Agency (NSA). These warmongers have a record of backing aggressive action against Iran and also supporting a rapid extraction from Afghanistan.
According to Bob Marley, a former Obama administration official who was one of the ‘Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’ (JCPOA) negotiators, and is now head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), instead of direct strikes on Iran, Trump may authorize a covert action [together with Israel] that would be less risky [hopefully] and with no consequences for Trump.
According to Marley, in the free-wheeling, norm-shattering atmosphere of Trump’s last stand, he may also recognize Israel sovereignty over West Bank settlements [in absolute contravention of International Law] or designate groups such as Yemen’s Houthi movement [hindering a settlement] or Egypt’s ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ as terrorist organizations.
In the latter case, taking such administrative measures [executive action] would be much easier than taking military action as a lame-duck president. The US armed services would resist taking such reckless steps. Moreover, they are very conscious of their constitutional responsibilities.
However, there may be a certain rationale/method to Trump’s last-minute madness [including his willful, pig-headed stubbornness not to concede defeat]. Trump is said to be considering another run for the presidency in 2024: “To that end, he is looking at last-minute options for fulfilling campaign promises he can point to, to build a narrative that he ran a successful administration, that he was removed by a rigged election” (The Guardian). He is under the disillusion that he can finally go in a blaze of glory, solidify his extreme right-wing base and keep alive the spurious ‘stab in the back’ propaganda.
The Rise & Fall of an American Megalomaniac
In a brilliant analysis of the psychological makeup of Trump and his followers, the clinical psychologist, Dr Alan Blotcky writing in Independent (Nov. 17), diagnosed still-president Donald Trump of being malignantly narcissist. This had fueled all of his personal and political behavior. Unfortunately, after four years, many of his unsuspecting supporters were now a reflection of him and his pathology. They were “grandiose, superior, misguided, racist and xenophobic.” And Trump taught them to be like him: “outwardly aggressive and defiant” and suffering from collective narcissism.
Hillary Clinton has turned out to be highly perspicacious. She was criticized in 2016 for repeatedly expressing her concerns about Trump’s supporters and depicting them as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic, in short – “a basket of deplorable”. In hindsight, she was spot on in her critique!
Dr Blatcky outlines the strategy to disrupt and transform the narcissistic connection of Trump and his supporters. This is based on social and political psychology.
The first essential step has already been achieved. With his decisive election defeat, his official voice will be silenced and he will be stripped of his commanding position in controlling the narrative. His embarrassment and humiliation will be a catalyst to diminish his influential role.
Second, the mainstream media must now [collectively] drastically curtail their coverage of him and his antics. His tweets, comments and behaviour should no longer be given prominence. It has even been suggested that his Twitter account be suspended. This may very well be a tall order, but an attempt should, at least, be made.
Third, the new president’s role will be crucial. Joe Biden’s temperament, moral compass, and political skill are more aligned with the American people. He was, therefore, able to bring together such a diverse and comprehensive ‘grand coalition’ to vanquish the ‘emperor without any clothes’, who mistakenly thought he was invincible! Biden could develop into the father figure to confront the pandemic, handle the economic downturn, and stop the undermining of democratic institutions.
Fourth, to bring out the best in all of the people, unity, inclusiveness and honesty must be the national leitmotiv.
Fifth, Biden promised to be president for all Americans and Trump supporters should also be invited to join in the mission of uniting America – becoming part of the equation, instead of part of the enormous problem.
Sixth, however, all those toxic and corrosive groups whose ideologies include racism, xenophobia, terrorism and fascism must be disavowed and rejected without exception.
Seventh, no group in America should be encouraged to feel superior or entitled to another group. This was particularly stoked by Trump with regard to white Americans.
Eight, at the same time, American leaders must attend to the socio-cultural and economic issues troubling many Trump supporters. Their many grievances and concerns must be listened to, understood and valued.
Collective narcissism is insidious and gravely dangerous and debunking it has now become a major challenge. Trump himself may be incurable, but collective narcissism must be dismantled and must not be allowed to rear its ugly head again. A win for America is a win for the whole world.
Can Democracy Survive in America?
Ten days after he had squarely lost the presidential election in a free and fair manner, Trump had the audacity and effrontery to nakedly lie to America and the world that he had actually won!
This led former President Barack Obama to warn starkly that the U.S. is “entering into an epistemological crisis” – a crisis of knowledge. He explained further: “If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, by definition our democracy doesn’t work.”
This also demonstrates the proposition that American democracy is not only facing a crisis of trust but in knowledge itself, largely because “language has become increasingly untethered from reality,” and Americans find themselves “in a swirling maelstrom of lies, disinformation, paranoia and conspiracy theories” (Sarah Churchwell/The Guardian, Nov.22).
George Orwell [of ‘1984’ & ‘Animal Farm’ fame] warned in 1946: “A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class [in essence: the Republican Party] has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud.”
In the U.S. at present, the flagrantly artificial power depends on a reality-denying president who refuses to concede defeat, an administration that repudiates the results of an election that was transparently fair, the Republican Party leadership silent in complicity or actively encouraging those falsehoods and surrogates who flatly lie about the election outcome.
Has America then arrived at the tipping point of its history whereas the German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt [together with Orwell two of history’s most acute observers of totalitarianism] observed, that in an unstable, incomprehensible world, people arrive at the point “where they would at the same time believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true”?
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
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