Donald Trump lacks a stable mind

Unarguably, America is the most powerful country in the world now, economically and militarily. It has been so since the end of the Second World War. The architecture of the new world order with rule-based and procedure-bound institutions that emerged in the wake of the war was largely designed and in some cases financed by America. In a world divided by the cold war, it became the natural leader of the global half that was not under communism. The peace that prevailed, avoiding a major war, was due not to a little extent to the discreet policy postures of America. While opposed to Russia on ideological ground, America made security agreements that kept balance of power both within and across the two blocs, ensuring peace. The only aberrations from this pursuit of peace were wars in Korea and Vietnam that America waged. In the Korean war, an exasperated General, war-hero Douglas MacArthur, wanted to use nuclear bomb to finish off the enemy. He was immediately dismissed by President Truman and the final outcome of the war was a peace agreement, giving birth to two Koreas, a win-win situation for both. In Vietnam, after years of bloody battle and hundreds of thousands of deaths, America conceded defeat to Viet Cong, the guerrilla force it was fighting against. Nuking them (using nuclear bombs) to avoid an ignominious defeat was never considered an option by American civil policy makers. The red line between the rational and humane and their opposites were never crossed by America even as a pre- eminent nuclear power. In terms of peace time building and strengthening of the post-war global order, as primus inter pares among super-powers, America balanced its national interests with those of the rest of the world. As a result, it became possible for the whole world to move ahead in lockstep in all the areas that mattered for material progress and human welfare. In the scheme of things that comprised the global architecture for peace and progress, the cardinal principle was the familiar Three Musketeers refrain, ‘one for all, all for one’. America, the most powerful country in the world and the leader of the non-communist bloc, did not assert its right to have greater benefits than the rest on the ground of contributing more financially.
America played its constructive part in building the world order from a position of strength and with humility, aware of its obligation to carry the heavy burden of leadership. In playing this exemplary role, the collective leadership in America mattered, the wisdom of its politicians in Congress, leaders of industry and intellectuals in academia. But what mattered most was the leadership of the president of the United States (US). For, even with checks and balance in American brand of democracy, the power to make decisions is always inherent in the institution of presidency. Almost all the American presidents have been aware of this and almost none has abused this power which is why no significant harm was done to the interests of Americans and to the people of the rest of the world. But this glorious record of America seems to be a matter of the past because America has now a president who is megalomaniac, vengeful, venal, indiscreet, crude, inconsistent and has shown all the signs of being a schizophrenic. There is a saying in Turkish: if a joker takes over a palace, he does not become a king, he turns the palace into a circus. That is what Donald Trump seems to have done after occupying the White House for the second time. During the first term, the signs of his abnormal behaviour were inchoate and not so evident. Now, after six months of his present incumbency, he has revealed his lunacy unmistakably, in the full view of Americans and of the world. The realisation is not only morally shocking, but more importantly, highly concerning because president Trump’s lunatic antics are injurious to the interests of Americans and of the global community. A quick appraisal of his actions and utterances since the beginning of his second term will estsblish the fact that instead of providing leadership to America and to the world he has become ‘a clear and present danger’ to both.
Among the first executive orders of president Trump were withdrawl of security details from former president Biden. This mean act of vengefulness is unprecedented as all previous president’s traditionally enjoyed that entitlement. That this executive order even included eminent scientist like Dr Anthony Fauuci of Corona - fame ( in a positive sense ) goes to show the extent of Trump’s meanness. The same wrath was brought to bear on former officials and legal professionals who gave evidence against Donald Trump in various cases brought against him.
One of Donald Trump’s election promises was to crackdown on illegal immigrants. This was in America’s national interest and one cannot cavil at it. But the way he preceded about it smacked more of Mafiosi culture than rule of law. Venezuelan and other undocumented immigrants were arrested and bundled out to a notorious prison in El Salvador, after shaving their heads and handcuffing them like convicted dangerous criminals. This and similar arrests of foreign students for exercising freedom of speech in campus over genocide in Gaza, showed the scant regard that president Trump has for due process of law. Similar contempt for human rights was shown by him while terminating hundreds of thousands of federal employees, giving them no notice. Entire departments and agencies, like the Department of Education and the US-Aid were wound up overnight in complete disregard of their core and consequential activities at home and abroad. Furthermore, one of the executive order struck at the root of the policy of inclusive development by abolishing diversity and equality as guiding principle of employment. Though meant for federal agencies, this order has changed the employment criteria of private sector affecting the welfare of millions of Americans.
Executive orders signed by Trump have abruptly cut off federal funding for research programs in health, education and other sectors. In none of these cases studies were made about cost and benefit of federal funding. Even elite universities like Columbia, Harvard and university of California have been targeted for cutting off federal funding unless they comply with the rules of recruitments of academics and admission of foreign students as dictated by the Trump administration. Contesting the order, the Harvard University has filed a case in court. In his no-holds barred policy of eliminating and degrading opponents even judges of courts, including Supreme Court, Trump has threatened to impeach judges. A judge in Minnesota was arrested while she was sitting in court under the pretext that she was giving shelter to an undocumented immigrant.
The cruel and highhanded manner of arresting and interning targeted people for deportation by ICE, the federal enforcement agency, has brought angry reaction from large swaths of people, particularly in California. To quell widespread unrest president Trump ordered National Guards to the streets of Los Angeles where the angry crowd have brought the city to a standstill. President Trump, rather than trying to resolve the problem legally and politically, has sent the Marines to Los Angeles for crowd control. The governor of California and the Mayor of Los Angeles have criticised the decision of the president to send National Guards and the Marines without consulting the state authorities.
Showing his venal propensity for ‘deal- making’, president Trump recently invited investors to his home to discuss the business of crypto currency floated by himself and his wife. Even fellow Republicans looked askance at the event and wondered whether this sort of activity involved conflict of interests.
While the performance of president Trump on home front has been a unremitting disaster, his policy actions in foreign affairs have not been exemplary either. His open declaration of absorbing Canada as the 51st state of America and taking over Greenland by force, if necessary, did not endear him in Canada and Denmark, besides shocking world leaders. But for the seriousness of his declarations and their repetitions these could be taken as jokes.
The world, comprising America’s allies and rivals, were no less shocked when president Trump all on a sudden slapped 10 per cent basic and retaliatory tariffs ranging from 30 to 250 per cent. Even countries like Mexico and Canada that had tri-lateral agreements in trade and investment, were not spared. Reacting to adverse criticism from business and investment sectors at home, president Trump declared a pause in his tariff war. Then, in the midst of bi- lateral negotiations with some countries like China, he reverted back to the old tariff slabs. In terms of global trade, president Trump has made mince meat of the rule-based trading system promoted by the World Trade Organization (WTO). At one fell swoop, he has struck at the very root of the global trading and financial architecture.
Showing contempt at evidence-based climate science, president Trump has once again withdrawn from 2015 Paris Climate Accord, upending the plan of action to contain global warming well below 1.5 degree centigrade above the pre-Industrial levels and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
President Trump’s legacy may be more momentous, for better or worse (more likely for worse), in his role on war and peace than in any other respects. In his election campaign he boldly declared that he would strive to be a ‘president of peace’ and would eschew war. But his much vaunted posture as a mediator of peace in the Ukraine war that would see the war ended soon after his election has been no better than a hot balloon, producing no result. On the other hand, all parties, including his European allies, have become suspicious of his motive in ‘deal making’ to end the war. As in domestic policy actions, in foreign affairs too, Trump avoids collegiality and collective decision-making, preferring to go alone. This has greatly undermined the effectiveness of NATO and G-7 where there is very little of free exchange of views. President Trump’s standard foreign policy posture is to dictate his terms on others for agreement or compliance. Even president Putin with whom he had warm relation has become irritated with his condescending attitude and does not trust him now.
President Trump’s legacy as ‘a president of peace’ will be judged largely by his role in the war between Iran and Israel that is going on at this very moment. The fact that Israel made pre-emptive attack on Iran when discussion was going on between America and Iran leads to two alternative conclusions :(a) Israel attacked Iran without the approval of America; or (b) America was informed beforehand by Israel and the green light was given to them. In the event of the first possibility, America would have reprimanded Israel for scuttling the ongoing negotiation. But after the attack America simply said it was not involved in the attack. Then, immediately after the attack, president Trump gushed with praise for Israel’s ‘beautiful attack’ and added that he had given Iran 60 days to make a deal with Israel and Iran did not comply. Analysing this statement several conclusions emerge. Firstly, by praising the pre-emptive attack president Trump is taking side with Israel. Secondly, there was no deadline of ‘60 days’, as the fifth round of negotiation was scheduled for 15 June, two days after the attack by Israel. So, the question of Iran missing the deadline, as implied by the statement by president Trump, does not arise. Thirdly, if there was a date fixed for the fifth round of negotiation between America and Iran and Israel attacked before that, America would have been terribly angry and tell Israel so. But nothing of that kind of reaction was shown by America which indicates that not only America knew about the Israeli attack, the same was given a go ahead.
The above analysis of president Trump’s initial reaction and statement leads to the speculation that the negotiation with Iran was a ruse to make it feel complacent, giving Israel enough time to put final touch to their tactic of pre-emptive attack. This speculation gains ground by subsequent utterances ( president Trump is fond of making cryptic and ambiguous statements to confuse listeners) where he uses the word ‘we’ ( ‘we control the sky of Iran’, ‘ we know where he (Khameni) is, but will not take out, not now’) several times which unmistakably makes America a willing party to the war of aggression unleashed by Israel. Subsequent warnings given by president Trump to Iranians to evacuate Tehran removes the fig leaf, if there was any, from America’s innocent role in the Iran-Israel war. Rather, it makes a war between Iran on one side and America and Israel on the other side more plausible. More recent statements by President Trump in his social media asking Iran to surrender unconditionally make American complicity in the war more explicit. Though president Trump is an extrovert, his mind is secretive and he never wears his feelings on his sleeves. But once the outcome of his murky thoughts and plans start to unravel, he becomes self-congratulatory and garrulous, letting others in on his ideas and plans in series of sound bites.
The war against Iran and America’s covert and overt role in it is a dream scenario which Netanyahu has nursed for over thirty years. Until now, no American president, however iron-clad his support of Israel was, agreed to Israel’s plan to attack Iran, far less became directly involved in it. In president Trump, Netanyahu has found a soul mate and he has now brought his thirty year’s dream to fulfilment. If there was a sober and rational occupant in the White House, a different approach would have been taken to Iran’s nuclear issue. But president Trump is a different kettle of fish, a temperamental megalomaniac who can whimsically take decisions without thinking about consequences. Only the coming days will make it clear what the world will look like after Trump’s indulgence to his latest whim.
Looking at the shambolic record of his presidency over the past six months, at home and in foreign affairs, one cannot but wonder why such a malignant person like Donald Trump, with a schizoid personality, was elected to be the president of the most powerful country in the world, not once, but for the second time?

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