During President Trump’s first term, the term “alternative facts” was used to describe some of the statements of the members of his administration. Now, we have moved past facts or alternative facts and are dealing with nightmarish delusions dressed up as government policies.
The Americans always liked to think that their system contained checks and balances to prevent the drift towards dictatorship and unnecessary wars. However, Trump’s behaviour during his first and especially during his second terms has shown that there are no guardrails.
The Supreme Court, staffed by Trump appointees, has made the extraordinary ruling that presidents cannot be prosecuted for their official actions, even after they leave office, thus turning the president into a virtual dictator above the rule of law.
Congress, which has been dominated and intimidated by Trump and his MAGA movement, is failing to discharge its responsibilities, even in the case of the president waging several wars or imposing taxes on Americans in the form of tariffs without Congressional approval.
The media has been so intimidated by Trump’s multi-billion-dollar lawsuits that it has become merely an administration stenographer. Great academic institutions have been subjugated by government pressure and the withdrawal of funds.
Sadly, the international situation is no better either. The greatest post-war achievement of mankind in the form of the United Nations, which established the rule of law for all nations and tasked to end the scourge of war through diplomacy and by establishing peace by peaceful means, has been made almost totally irrelevant by US’s frequent use of veto at the Security Council, and even by sanctioning some of its institutions and officials.
The US’s closest allies, heirs to great civilisations and empires, have allowed themselves to be seen and to act as vassals, even when Trump announces that he is going to grab a large part of Europe, by force if necessary, and imposes tariffs on any country that may stand in its way.
Meanwhile, the carnage in Gaza continues, if at a slower pace, and the defenceless Palestinians, whose land has been occupied, hundreds of thousands of them killed, maimed or starving, have been practically forgotten as a result of new catastrophes elsewhere. The empire has decided to appoint a board of peace, with no Palestinian participation and manned largely by their enemies who subjected them to genocide and ethnic cleansing. This is neocolonialism.
As the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote at the end of World War I, “The old world is dying, the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.”
We must ensure that the new age of monsters does not lead to another devastating world war.
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F Jahanpour 