The Point of No Return

A TRAGEDY IN THE OVAL OFFICE

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Many people are tempted to qualify yesterday’s fiasco at the White House, which included the humiliation and berating of President Zelenskyy, as a historical event that will forever be remembered either as the worst day in US diplomacy or the day the US stood up for “America First,” depending on which side you butter your bread on.

In reality, it is not so much yesterday’s meeting that marks a historical moment as it is but the final bookend in a series of events that started notably with Vice President Vance’s dressing down of Europe at the Munich Security Conference, when he ironically professed his lack of love for the old continent on February 14th, whilst snubbing the German Chancellor be refusing to see him given his “busy” schedule. He did, however, have time to meet Ms Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative für Deutschland, the most extreme far-right party in Europe and declare her his Valentine during a warm meeting if not of minds at least of intentions. The proverbial March Hare meeting Alice in Wonderland, so to speak. JD Vance lived up to expectations by displaying his raving mad temperament by provoking President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in his blatant attempt to curry favour from his Mad Hatter of a President.

February 2025 will go down in history as the moment when the United States formally ceased to be a shining city upon a hill so dear to President Ronal Reagan when the President of the US resigned from his role of leader of the free world and ultimately when all pretence at supporting the liberal democracies was abandoned. Over 80 years of consistent US policy exited shamefully right stage to be replaced by “America First”, brought back from the brink of death where it was left defeated in the 1930s,  dressed up in new boisterous Trumpian clothes and ready to be brandished as the latest weapon in America’s arsenal to glorify American power in the 21st century. Realpolitik à la Bismarck is decidedly back in fashion, with the sole aim of America First being to pursue, possess and apply power wherever and whenever necessary.

Such a fundamental shift in American foreign policy is a significant historical milestone. Coupled with the equally disruptive domestic policies implemented by President Trump in his second term, where the bedrock of Trump’s approach is retribution and revenge for perceived grievances, the combination makes the current period all the more remarkable.

With the wealthiest man in the world at his side, wielding a metaphorical chainsaw, Trump is dismantling the Federal government at an alarming speed, determined to change the American political system forever, promoting the “unitary executive theory” based on Article II of the American Constitution, whilst riding roughshod over Articles I and III, i.e. the legislative branch of government, namely the Congress and the judiciary branch of government, namely the federal judiciary. In simpler terms, the promotion of an authoritarian regime which implies the end of any genuine democracy, even if the trappings thereof are kept alive.

All roads lead not to Rome but seemingly to Berlin, albeit pre-second World War Berlin,  as Trumpism is seeking to introduce a hard-line Germanic version of fascism, with an American accent both in tone and style, creating a unique blend of a dangerous tyrannical philosophy dressed up in the more reassuring American values of “common sense” and good old fashioned Judaeo-Christian values.

It beggars belief that the dismantling of liberal democracy is happening inexorably before our eyes due to the histrionics of a one-time TV reality show presenter, hitherto known as a failed real estate developer, who, despite his criminal record and recent claim to fame as a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, has managed to become for a second time arguably the most powerful man in the world. The cult of personality centred around Donald Trump is even more potent than those of the pre-Second World War fascist dictators, as it is fuelled and powered by modern means of communication, primarily the internet and the digital highway of social media. Mark Twain once remarked, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” when the Pony Express was considered the height of modernity. In today’s world, lies and disinformation travel so fast and spawn so many false versions that truth doesn’t stand a chance against the lies people want to believe. The main threat to stability and peace in the world is no longer just one man, Donald Trump, no matter how big his ego is, but rather the movement that carries his name, namely Trumpism, that has taken over and subjugated the Grand Old Republican party in the US.

Another cliché often quoted in this context is that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely, attributed to the obscure nineteenth-century English historian Lord Acton. In the case of Trump, it is better to refer to Hannah Arendt, the German American political philosopher who coined the phrase “the banality of evil,” which perfectly describes Trump and Trumpism. Power did not corrupt Trump. He was already corrupt by nature, and his political success is due to the support he is given by the ever-increasing number of politicians, mainly from the Republican party, who have not only bent the knee in front of Trump but have bent over backwards to accommodate him and who continue to do so. In essence, it doesn’t require much to create a class of snivelling sycophants and enablers attracted by the appearance of power and the trimmings that go with it. Betraying others is only the first step. The founding act is the betrayal of one’s conscience. Let us be under no illusion that the only qualification required to become part of Trump’s most cherished inner circle is mediocrity, upon which unquestioning loyalty can easily grow like coprophilous fungus on cow dung.

Add to the mix the swarm of wasps attracted by the golden pot of Trumpian honey, the modern tech oligarchs who have been so quick to accommodate the new Queen Bee, showering the new President with millions, and you have a recipe for disaster. As Russia has demonstrated, a dictator supported by oligarchs is a dangerous combination, with each side believing they have the upper hand until, eventually, the snake devours its tail. The lords of Silicon Valley would be well-minded to remember Trump’s favourite parable of the scorpion and the frog.

February 28th is the point of no return when our collective innocence is lost and democratic naivety has died. One only has to look at the cast of billionaires and Fox News-affiliated people that constitute Trump’s cabinet. Lincoln is famous for forming a cabinet of rivals, ensuring his three main rivals had a seat at the table. Trump has named a cabinet of accomplices selected not – Trump forbid – for their competence but for their loyalty who will gleefully aid and abet Donald Trump in his crazed destruction of American democracy as we know it.

We can no longer pretend that America is on the right side of democracy. We can no longer hope against reason that the worst can be avoided. We can no longer pray hopelessly for deliverance.

Our salvation is in our own hands. Not those of god, whichever one you choose to worship (including President Trump). Humility requires us to know that the future is uncertain and that there is no simple solution. All we can hope for is that a better future, forged in crisis, will lead us out of this quagmire. Suppose we can recognise the gravity of the situation and stop believing in the illusions of the past. In that case, we can start the necessary work to build a coalition of the willing on a global level to prevent the new world order from being held hostage by autocratic leaders. The world described by George Orwell in 1984 is looking more and more prescient, down to the advent of Newspeak and the rapid change of alliances. But it is still fiction. It is up to us all to ensure it does not become our reality.