The world waits with bated breath as the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump approaches. Will he end the war in Ukraine? What will he do about immigration? How will he approach Iran? Is there any hope of him telling Israel it must end its ethnic cleansing policy? Will Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal all become American?
On many of these issues, we just don’t know, and it raises the question of what can be done now.
One could attempt to influence the lame duck Biden administration, but who is running the show? The new Congress is in session—what changes can be made there? Perhaps most crucially, how are your friends, neighbors, coworkers thinking? What is the positive way forward to present to the incoming administration, and how can it be organized to take it up?
One thing is for certain: A revolutionary transformation of policy in the U.S. and Anglo-American NATO is the only way to avoid catastrophe.
The NATO war against Russia playing out in Ukraine is the result of decades of NATO expansion, which Trump recognizes was a mistake, and that it was natural for Russia to perceive it as a risk to its own security. While weapons deliveries to Ukraine continue, they could never enable what Ukraine could call a victory over Russia. Some European leaders call for the war to continue even if Trump pulls back.
The “liberal democratic” paradigm has largely lost its legitimacy around the world. Who can take seriously a supposedly “democratic” collection of societies that claims a devotion to the rule of law while enabling or tolerating genocide against the Palestinians, overthrowing nations, overturning elections, undermining energy supplies, and supporting terrorists?
The Lancet, a British medical journal, has published a study showing that the Gaza death toll is being significantly under-reported. Meanwhile, more brazen Israeli demands for annexing Palestinian land are commonplace. And Seymour Hersh reports that a high percentage of high-level IDF officers come from West Bank settler families, bringing a religious fervor to their brutality: “What began as a retaliatory war by the internationally revered Israel Defense Forces against a disciplined Hamas guerrilla force turned into the systematic starvation of a society whose civilian survivors—men, women, and children—are the victims of an Israeli military whose combat units are often led by the second generation of Israeli settlers. These officers, increasingly prominent as the war in Gaza goes on, are religious zealot majors and lieutenant colonels who believe it is their calling to shoot and kill any Palestinian who moves, whether combatant or civilian.”
In the United States on Jan. 10, President-elect Trump responded to his “unconditional discharge” sentence, the Supreme Court heard arguments about the bill that forces the sale or shutdown of TikTok, Tulsi Gabbard reportedly told press that she now supports Section 702 warrantless spying, and Meta, shortly after announcing it was dropping its fact-checking approach, said it is disbanding its DEI program.
As Trump assumes the presidency in just over a week, he will have to act quickly. The U.S. has lost credibility worldwide, but by putting forward global solutions under a paradigm of growth, it can act as a powerful force for the good. By nationalizing the Federal Reserve, ending the “special relationship” with the British, and by helping to shape and welcome a New Paradigm, the U.S. can redeem itself.
