The Trump Revolution Is Rattling the World

Published in La Razón
(Spain) on 21 January 2025
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Tom Walker. Edited by Patricia Simoni.
If Trump is guided by the law of the strongest, he will head in the wrong way — and he will pay for it. The rule of law has made America great. Liberal democracy must prevail.

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. president in a historic ceremony inside the U.S. Capitol. The first thing to consider is that the 47th president is different from the 45th, the man who defeated Hillary Clinton. There is greater maturity, as well as traces of some turbulent years in and outside of politics — courtrooms included — in a risky transition. However, it remains to be seen whether that experience will lead to pragmatism or to inept disruption.

The second thing to consider is that Trump is returning to the White House with more power than ever. That level of power will test the will and capability of the floundering opposition and, if it comes to that, the strength of the checks and balances of the great North American nation.

Trump’s majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, along with the current composition of the Supreme Court, presage a favorable wind at his back. This is in very good measure the fruit of a landslide victory,* that is to say with the endorsement and blessing of the U.S. electorate, which punished Joe Biden’s futile and empty presidency. Trump is arriving in the Capitol on the backs of that band of wealthy Silicon Valley partisans who have given him their support and their millions. The hyper-rich entrepreneur Elon Musk is leading the group, convinced that the country and the world need to be turned inside out like a sock, and that the president-elect is the man with the necessary faith and courage to get it done.

In an almost apocalyptic tone, they are proclaiming a new world order in which geopolitics will mutate toward a tumultuous and uncertain situation shaped by powers that win, no matter what the cost. Those 100 or so executive orders with which Trump has marked the end of the Biden era, and that shine a light on the new era for the U.S., will confirm where he is inclined to go. His rhetoric prior to getting into the Oval Office took an almost imperialistic and coercive tone, with reference to the use of force and to the breakdown of the respect for sovereignty. Denmark, Canada, Panama and Mexico have been objects of that hostile rhetoric; we shall see what the actual outcome will be.

Ratcheting up worldwide tension to get ahead is one thing; declaring war is ridiculous, for no one remains unscathed in a conflagration. In Trump’s second time around, undocumented immigrants and the southern border, commercial momentum, the tariff battle and woke progressivism are primary objectives supported by voters. And there is also “America First”: a great America imposing its will on the world, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine, and always facing off against China in its role as nemesis.

Trump has done his homework and consequently will now act according to his interests. Not the interests of Europe, which is comfortable in its condition as a posturing, supporting actor. It seems impossible for Brussels to be able to defend itself. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón exudes irrelevance and should at least try not to lie, although he will do so anyway.

If Trump is guided by the law of the strongest, he will head in the wrong direction — and he will pay for it. The rule of law has made America great. Liberal democracy must prevail.

*Editor’s note: Trump’s margin of victory in the national popular vote — 1.5 percentage points — is the smallest of any president who secured a popular vote win since Richard M. Nixon in 1968.


La revolución Trump zarandea el mundo
Si Trump se guía por la ley del más fuerte, se equivocará y lo pagará. Son las reglas y el Derecho las que han hecho grande a América. La democracia liberal debe prevalecer

Donald Trump tomó posesión como el 47 presidente de Estados Unidos en una ceremonia histórica en el interior del Capitolio. Lo primero que cabe considerar es que el 47 mandatario de la primera democracia del mundo es diferente al que fue el 45 que derrotó a Hillary Clinton. Hay más madurez y el poso de unos años turbulentos dentro y fuera de la política en una transición azarosa, juzgados incluidos, aunque esté por verificarse que esa experiencia apunte al pragmatismo o a la disrupción mal entendida. Lo segundo es que Trump retorna a la Casa Blanca con más poder que nunca. Ese estatus hegemónico pondrá a prueba la voluntad y la capacidad de la oposición extraviada y, si llegara el caso, la firmeza de los contrapesos de la gran nación norteamericana. Su mayoría en el Senado y en la Cámara de Representantes, así como la composición actual del Tribunal Supremo, presuponen un horizonte con el viento a favor, en muy buena medida como el fruto de una victoria aplastante, es decir, bajo el refrendo y la bendición del pueblo estadounidense que castigó la Presidencia fútil y vacua de Joe Biden. Trump desembarca en la capital a lomos de esa caballería de Silicon Valley que ha depositado en él su confianza y sus millones con el magnate Elon Musk a la cabeza, convencido de que es preciso darle la vuelta como un calcetín al país y al mundo y que el elegido es el hombre con la fe y el coraje precisos. Se nos anuncia en tono casi apocalíptico un nuevo orden mundial en el que la geopolítica mutará hacia un convulso e incierto escenario conformado por esferas de poder e influencia de las potencias que lo ganen a cualquier precio. Ese centenar de órdenes ejecutivas con que el presidente pone punto final a la era Biden y alumbra el tiempo nuevo para Estados Unidos servirá para comprobar hasta dónde está dispuesto a llegar. Su discurso previo a franquear la entrada al despacho Oval ha cobrado un tono casi imperialista y coercitivo con referencias al uso de la fuerza y al quebranto de la legalidad en cuanto al respeto de la soberanía. Dinamarca, Canadá, Panamá o México han sido objeto de esa retórica hostil que veremos cómo se fragua. Tensar el contexto mundial para sacar ventaja es una cosa, declarar una guerra, un dislate pues nadie resulta indemne en una conflagración. Los inmigrantes ilegales y la frontera sur, el pulso comercial y la batalla arancelaria, el progresismo woke son objetivos capitales en su segundo advenimiento que el pueblo soberano ha respaldado. También ese American first, una América grande que imponga su voluntad en el mundo, especialmente en Oriente Medio y Ucrania, y siempre frente a China, en el papel de némesis. Trump ha hecho sus deberes y ahora actuará en consecuencia en función de sus intereses. Europa no, acomodada en su condición de actor de reparto con ínfulas. Parece imposible que Bruselas esté condiciones de defenderse. Sánchez respira irrelevancia y debería al menos no equivocarse, aunque lo hará. Si Trump se guía por la ley del más fuerte, se equivocará y lo pagará. Son las reglas y el Derecho las que han hecho grande a América. La democracia liberal debe prevalecer.

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