Surging Trumpism: hows and whys

The defeat of Donald Trump in November 2020 elections didn't reverse the ideology of Trumpism but gave it widespread power and legitimacy in 2024 polls. Within few days after taking oath, Trump issued hundreds of executive orders ranging from domestic to foreign policy matters which also raised controversies. Focusing on curbing illegal immigrants, the American President, in his executive order instructed relevant authorities to deport them to their country of origin.

When the Colombian government refused to allow the US military planes carrying illegal deportees to land, Trump threatened to impose high tariff and ban issuance of visas for high officials. Within hours, the Colombian government relegated to American pressure. Will the world bear with threats, pressures and bullying by the Trump Administration or will it resist such acts? Well, time will tell. But, the Colombian surrender to the American pressure will definitely encourage Trump to implement his election agenda and pledges made during his inaugural January 20 speech to deport millions of illegal immigrants; impose strict border controls by using the military; and protect the American economy by imposing high tariff against China, Canada, Mexico and all those countries having trade surplus with the US. His slogan 'America first' and 'Make America Great Again' cannot materialise in his current presidency because the US is not what it was 100 years ago having 88% white population.

Some of the executive orders issued by President Trump - like denying citizenship to those born in the US from illegal alien parents and freezing of foreign aid distributed by USAID - will create a massive crisis because billions of dollars of economic, medical and technical assistance granted by America to several countries, including its allies, will be at stake. Many of the executive orders passed by Trump will face ligation in federal and state courts. Trumpism is now showing its true colour which will have major ramifications. Terming illegal aliens as criminals is also debatable. Hundreds of illegal aliens from Colombia who reached their country in American military planes denied the assertion of Trump that they were involved in crimes.

According to CNN, in her first press briefing on January 28, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended President Trump's executive orders and blamed the Biden administration of promoting illegal migration; failing to control inflation; and plunging America in foreign wars. As the youngest Press Secretary of White House, Leavitt portrayed Trump as a saviour who is singlehandedly trying to solve the country's problems. White House reporters speculated afterwards that "Trump must have been pleased with the nearly hour-long show". Associated Press stated that "in her first briefing as the public face of Trump's second administration, Leavitt spent about 47 minutes answering questions from the White House press corps on the impact of a White House freeze on federal grants and loans and on the early days of the administration's efforts to deport migrants living in the U.S. illegally."

Like his first term in office, Trump is opening a Pandora's box by raising issues which will escalate controversies. By targeting illegal migrants, calling them criminals and seeking their swift deportation to the country of their origin, Trump needs to answer whether all the white people who entered the US during the 250 years of American history did so legally. If they have been migrating from Europe since 1776, how many of them entered the US legally? To single out non-white illegal migration and terming them murderers and rapists will not create a positive impression of the Trump administration. There may have been several white American high-ups currently whose ancestors are unlikely to have entered the US legally.

Suspending foreign aid and asking Egypt and Jordan to accommodate millions of Palestinians from Gaza for rebuilding the destroyed territory is nothing but an irrational option. How Trumpism is taking shape in his second tenure needs to be examined from three sides.

First, Trump's assertion that America will be great and rich again is a fallacy because that country has a debt of $36 trillion. There are very rich people in the US like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg and others including President Donald Trump having a wealth of a couple of trillion dollars, but American state is not as affluent and is faced with the challenge of shutting down the federal government. A couple of hundred billionaires in America doesn't mean that the American public is rich. That in fact reflects a new oligarchic culture. With a debt of $36 trillion in a $27 trillion GDP, President Trump needs to enhance tax-to-GDP ratio instead of reducing taxes to benefit rich people. Merely by threatening to enhance tariff to protect local industry, the US cannot become rich. When every year the US spends around $900 billion on defence and weapons, how can it plan to slash its debt?

Second, there is no way the Trump administration can prevent the resurgence of racial and societal polarisation if his policies tend to promote hate and division. America is a country of immigrants because the native Americans called 'Red Indians' were almost eliminated several centuries ago. Making America great again will not be possible by curbing immigration, but by promoting creativity, innovation and an inclusive culture. The impact of Trump's anti-migration and pro-white policy will sow further divisions in America. Already, one can see the domination of white members in Trump's cabinet and administration. During Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden administrations, representation from non-white population was obvious which is not the case with the present regime. Like his previous time in White House, Trump was blamed for promoting white supremacists which led to racial polarisation. It seems Trump has not learned from his past failures and wants to patronise the white segment of the population. Immigration leading to demographic transformation in the US is a reality because the white population has lost its two-thirds majority and if the present trend is not reversed, non-white population will gain majority over the coming 30 years.

Finally, in the realm of foreign policy, the Trump administration is unnecessarily opening several fronts at the same time - like he did during his previous term as president. Targeting China, Canada, Mexico, Panama and Colombia can have negative implications for the US. Trump, in his last term, had uneasy terms with NATO and this time too, he is stressing the alliance to invest 5% of their GDP on defence. His election rhetoric to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours proved to be a failure.

If the ideology of Trumpism succeeds, America and the world will certainly change, but mostly for the worse. One can thus say that one the one hand, racial and societal polarisation in the US will grow, and on the other it will face growing international isolation.