Democracy is dying in Trump's America

Michael Chugani March 19, 2025 17:48

Trumpism is a wannabe tsunami. It is unpredictable, destructive, and fast-moving. But a real tsunami doesn’t turn back. Trumpism does. It retreats at a whim or when challenged. Think Canada, the European Union, and Greenland. Trumpism is strong when others are weak. Think Panama and Ukraine.

Trumpism embodies the mindset of US President Donald Trump. Its intention is to remake America and reshape the world order with whatever means necessary. Trump unleashed it domestically and globally within days of taking over as president for a second term.

Domestically, he tasked ally Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, with a dual mission: downsizing the federal government through mass firings and reshaping it with loyalists. Musk sacked many thousands of workers from almost all government departments, including the CIA, Internal Revenue Service, and the Social Security Administration.

The combined axe of Trump and Musk eliminated the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the USAID agency that provides US aid to about 160 countries. These shuttered agencies formed the core of America’s global soft power. Trump plans to eliminate the entire Education Department and downsize the FBI. But judges are turning back Trumpism’s extremities by ruling in favor of lawsuits against mass firings and agency closures.

Globally, Trump imposed trade tariffs on numerous countries and threatened expansionism with US annexation of Canada and Greenland, takeover of the Panama Canal, and kicking out Palestinians to make Gaza an American luxury resort. He quit the World Health Organization, the Paris Climate Agreement, threatened to withdraw from NATO, and insisted on United Nations reforms.

Panama quickly kowtowed. It quit China's Belt and Road Initiative and forced Hong Kong-owned Hutchinson, which Trump claimed was under Beijing's control, to sell its Panama Canal ports to an American consortium. War-torn Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenski had to eat humble pie after standing up to Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance during a fiery White House meeting recently

Trump kicked Zelenski out of the White House and cut off intelligence and weapons to Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. Zelensky bowed by improving his deal to share Ukraine’s mineral wealth with the US in return for defense protection. He also accepted Trump’s terms for an unconditional one-month ceasefire. Russia wants conditions.

Countries with a stronger hand treated Trumpism as more bark than bite. Tariffs against Canada and Mexico have turned into an on again/off again trade war after both countries retaliated with their own tariffs. The European Union and China also retaliated against Trumps tariffs with their own tariffs.

Canada ridiculed Trump’s threat of annexing it by saying Canada will never become America's 51st state. Most Canadians are now boycotting US goods. Mineral-rich Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, showed Trump its middle finger by telling the world it will never allow the US to buy it.

Despite the many pushbacks, Trump has partly managed to reshape America and the world. The US Constitution states that Congress, a separate branch of government, controls the funding, creation, and closure of departments. This provides a check and balance against overreach by the executive branch headed by the president.

But Trump ignored the role of Congress with his mass firings, de-funding, and closure of federal government departments. This essentially remakes the intent of the Constitution by increasing Trump’s power and decreasing the power of Congress. Trump’s Republican Party, which controls both Houses of Congress after last November’s elections, is too afraid to fight back.

Multi-billionaire Musk has threatened to fund primary challenges in next year’s mid-term congressional elections against all Republicans who dare stand up to Trump. The Democratic Party, now in the minority, lacks the unity and votes in Congress to challenge Trump.

Trump has reshaped the world but not in a good way in my opinion with his tariff wars, strongman behavior towards allies, rebuke of Zelenski, and deferential treatment of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Canada, the European Union, Ukraine, and Japan, among others, now consider the US more as a foe than a reliable friend.

Canadian prime ministers traditionally choose the US as their first foreign destination after being elected but Mark Carney snubbed Trump and traveled to Paris and London instead to strengthen alliances with Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron suggested using his country’s nuclear weapons as an umbrella for Europe after Trump signaled that he may not defend NATO countries under attack as required by NATO rules.

Germany, Poland, and South Korea are now thinking of developing their own nuclear weapons. Taiwan is fearfully wondering if it can depend on the US if attacked. Countries in Europe and Asia are desperately increasing defense spending that could lead to an arms race. Trump wanted to change the world order but the way he is doing it doesn’t bode well for America.

His tariff wars, abandonment of allies, and mercurial behavior have brought turmoil to the US and the world. He refused to rule out a recession caused by his tariff wars when asked on Fox News, triggering a stock market crash. Prepare for more shockwaves if he goes ahead with his threatened reciprocal tariffs globally on April 2.

I asked in a previous column if Trump considers himself a president or a king. The answer is now clearer. He posted a social media picture of himself wearing a crown. He is now ruling, not governing. He is doing that with White House Executive Orders instead of through Congress.

As an American, I support Trump’s Making America Great Again, or MAGA, but this is not the way to do it. The American president has always been labeled the leader of the free world. But many now mock this label. Making America great again requires global respect and admiration, not fear and disdain.

Michael Chugani

A Hong Kong-born American citizen who has worked for many years as a journalist in Hong Kong, the USA and London.