The United States has been a magnet for people around the world, first and foremost because of our ‘experiment’ – this democratic, self-governing state insistence on the freedoms of speech, religion, and economic opportunity.  Each wave of immigrants sought to escape religious discrimination, a dearth of economic mobility, class struggles, and persecution (and sometimes death) in favor of some hope of a different outcome in this land of growing possibilities.  The representative government espoused the ideals that drew them here – economic freedom, democratic principles, and a Judeo-Christian basis for supporting the humanity of others (not universally, but the general ethos was ever-present).  As the 20th century emerged, and the country became wealthier and stronger militarily, the US projected its ideals to the rest of the world, as a beacon to follow; a worthy example.

For a century, these have been the agreed upon tenets at the foundation of our social contract and reflected by our nation’s leaders, irrespective of political party.  Until now.  The Trump Administration has chosen a strategy and posture that quite intentionally turns off that beacon to the rest of the world, and in some ways attempts to make us part of the pariah class of countries. They act like the US is a necessary evil that can leverage every outcome we desire through economic force (because they also explicitly do not wish to engage militarily around the world with US troops).  They act like there is no competition for what America offers and our isolation from the rest of world will not have costs to Americans.  They believe that economic rewards should only go to those who exhibit sufficient fealty to their regime (thus breaking the classical economic opportunity model that has driven our growth for the past century).  And they believe that their voters signed up for this (even though they did not campaign on these principles).

The initial salvo for the administration was foreign aid, through the USAID.  This agency, existing for over 60 years, was the embodiment of the US’s reach in the world.  A combination of economic and humanitarian ventures funded by Republican and Democratic Congresses alike to show other countries “the way”.  Through reducing health ravages  and increasing economic growth elsewhere, we created friends diplomatically, stalled political chaos, and established markets for selling American goods (as well as cheap goods for Americans to buy, keeping our inflation lower than the rest of the world).  All without the colonization that the Europeans used in the prior centuries to obtain similar results (until freedom and independence became possible).  Just as critically, the US presence forestalled the presence and influence of our adversaries – chiefly China.  The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to supplant the US and European interests and influence throughout the world.  Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the absence of USAID in developing countries will allow China to step in, at what is certain to be a cost to American prestige and pocketbooks.  One of the first indications of Chinese inroads occurred this week, with Thailand swaying towards China in a Uyghur deportation they requested – could the loss of USAID resources (on things like stopping human trafficking and the spread of diseases) have impacted their decisions – there are no coincidences in diplomatic circles.

The second salvo was the most expected one – a trade war.  But the initial targets of the trade war were unexpected – Canada and Mexico.  These are the top importers of US goods and supply the US with less expensive goods and excess supply of fuels (keeping our energy costs down).  In the first Trump Administration, they lambasted the 25 year old NAFTA agreement and negotiated a replacement – the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement).  Called a “colossal victory” by Trump at its signing, the deal resulted in greater imports and exports from and to all countries involved with minimal trade imbalances with the US. But now, Trump plans to blow up his own signature trade effort and subject American’s to higher prices (through tariffs) as well as lower exports to our neighbors.  Canadians have already begun purchasing fewer US goods and services.  Alongside the economic impacts expected, the rhetoric from the US (from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to saying that Canada should be the 51st state) only adds to the retrenchment of our friendships to the status of acquaintanceship (or perhaps burdensome neighbor), with the only outcome for the US being costly isolation.

The final, most public, shot was the scathing rebuke of Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the media on Friday, with the inclusion of lies regarding the origin of the war in Ukraine and references to the lack of gratitude to the US ‘dear leader’.  Trump’s choice to have TASS (Russian state media) present at the meeting spoke volumes regarding who was the real audience for this escapade. European reaction to this embarrassing debacle was most indicative of the break that Trump had initiated with the rest of the free world – clearly if the US is unwilling to be the example for the world, France and Germany (and likely the UK) will not hesitate to fill the gap. The abandonment of Ukraine and its people – who have suffered over 70,000 deaths (more than the US lost in the entire Vietnam War), over 20,000 children kidnapped by Russia, rape and sexual violence by Russian soldiers – is the most striking abandonment of our country’s tenets.  Acceptance of an violent invasion of a country, let alone an attempt by the US to pillage the rare earth minerals of Ukraine without any payment in return, stains the reputation of this country and sends the ultimate signal to the world of our rejection of Judeo-Christian ethos.

We are left with an abysmal premise for our standing in the world.  Our contracts and agreements are not to be relied upon.  We have no interest in mutual agreements with mutual benefits.  Entering into alliances with us is pointless – we are too arrogant to believe that we have any obligation to keep our word.  We no longer believe in free and fare trade (and the $2 trillions in trade and 10 million jobs linked to them are expendable).  The US will go it alone – angrily – and proclaim that any harm to us is simply unfair.

And the national disgrace continues…