When political legitimacy becomes contingent on recognition by a superpower, populations lose their right to self-determination and democracy becomes a selective tool.
Trump claims that it was due to America's generosity and protection that other countries benefited and raised their living standards, while the United States itself gained nothing.
The rise of transactional unilateral diplomacy—most visibly associated with U.S. President Donald Trump—has exposed structural vulnerabilities in the alliance system.
With his reliance on naked power and rejection of all constraints on his authority, Trump represents the opposite of everything that made the U.S. great.