“The beauty of me is that I’m very rich”
– Donald Trump
I’m obsessed with Donald Trump. I used to watch his show The Apprentice and have since re-watched every season at least three or four times.
I never had an opinion about him one way or another, but I thought he was a charismatic, fun kinda billionaire who brought the spirit of innovation and creativity to an otherwise dull business world. Trump would banter with the contestants and ultimately fire one at the end of each show with his famous catchphrase “you’re fired!” and most of his decisions were absolutely on point. He had his advisers on each side of the conference table who guided him, and there were script-writers, editors, and skilled videographers who made him look like a genius.
As I intently followed the news for the past three-four years of his election campaign, victory, and current bumbling about in world affairs, it seems this madman may go down in history as the straw that broke the American Empire’s back and possibly world order. Some conspiracy theorists may go as far as announcing the Third World War on our doorsteps. I won’t go that far, but I will say that he is an extremely dangerous person to have at the helm of the greatest and most powerful civilisation in history.
I read a few books A Higher Loyalty by James Comey (the head of FBI who was fired because he wouldn’t bow to Trump’s pressure to end the investigation into his campaign), The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by a group of 27 psychologists declaring he is a dangerous unstable narcissist obsessed with himself and his ego, and Russian Roulette, which describes how the Russians infiltrated and hacked the Democrats with some pretty damning information that points directly at him and his team colluding with that effort.
Trump has been caught paying off two porn stars before the election and threatening tens more to remain silent, and there are tapes to prove it apparently. He was accused of harassing women on his show, and many more contestants from the Miss Universe pageant, and his wife slaps his hand away demonstrating clear disgust of him in public. Watch her face during his inauguration as her smile turns into a revolted scowl as soon as he turns his back.
He tweets like an angry five-year-old who didn’t get the toy he wanted, ignores all and any advice from his consultants, attacks the Press, is systematically unravelling any and all of Obama’s great policies out of spite (majorly harming trade, the environment, and dangerously increasing global warming), and has started a full-blown trade war with China and the European Union.
This is where it gets dangerous. I don’t care about his affairs, rants, or stupid tweets. I care about the world order: A precarious ballet where most countries balance their internal priorities with external requirements. The US has until recently been the dominant force and a large factor in stable global trade. Also, luckily for us the States strongly believe in human rights and have a cool fun culture. When Trump irreversibly creates enemies out of almost all the leaders of the free world, he leaves the door open for Russia or China to take over. The EU has already begun negotiations for free trade with Japan, and China is starting to have a strong foothold in Africa and the Arab world.
What does it all mean? It means that an economic or political collapse of such a large superpower can only lead to worldwide instability. That means there can be new wars and new opportunities for other large countries to take over.
And instability in an age of accelerating cheap military technology is not a good thing without the watchful eye of a superpower with morals. As I helplessly watch this crazy drama unfold, I cling to the hope that somebody in the US knows what’s going on. Because for sure this halfwit is nothing but a madman. A stable genius he is not.
Hamed Fakhro