Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Demolition of US Global Power (via Donald Trump)
The superhighway to disaster is already being paved.
From Donald Trumps first days in office, news of the damage to Americas international stature has come hard and fast. As if guided by some malign design, the new president seemed to identify the key pillars that have supported US global power for the past 70 years and set out to topple each of them in turn. By degrading NATO, alienating Asian allies, cancelling trade treaties and slashing critical scientific research, the Trump White House is already in the process of demolishing the delicately balanced architecture that has sustained Washingtons world leadership since the end of World War II. However unwittingly, Trump is ensuring the accelerated collapse of American global hegemony.
Having more or less exhausted their lexicon of condemnatory rhetoric, the usual crew of commentators is now struggling to understand how an American president could be quite so willfully self-destructive.
Stunned by his succession of foreign policy blunders, commentators left and right, domestic and foreign have raised their voices in a veritable chorus of criticism. A Los Angeles Times editorial typically called him so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that he threatened to weaken this countrys moral standing in the world and imperil the planet through his appalling policy choices. Hes a sucker whos shrinking US influence in [Asia] and helping make China great again, wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman after surveying the damage to the countrys Asian alliances from the presidents decision to tear up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal in his first week in office.
The international press has been no less harsh. Reeling from Trumps denunciation of South Koreas free-trade agreement as horrible and his bizarre claim that the country had once been a part of China, Seouls leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, expressed the shock, betrayal, and anger many South Koreans have felt. Assessing his first 100 days in office, Britains venerable Observer commented: Trumps crudely intimidatory, violent, know-nothing approach to sensitive international issues has encircled the globe from Moscow to the Middle East to Beijing, plunging foes and allies alike into a dark vortex of expanding strategic instability."
From Donald Trumps first days in office, news of the damage to Americas international stature has come hard and fast. As if guided by some malign design, the new president seemed to identify the key pillars that have supported US global power for the past 70 years and set out to topple each of them in turn. By degrading NATO, alienating Asian allies, cancelling trade treaties and slashing critical scientific research, the Trump White House is already in the process of demolishing the delicately balanced architecture that has sustained Washingtons world leadership since the end of World War II. However unwittingly, Trump is ensuring the accelerated collapse of American global hegemony.
Having more or less exhausted their lexicon of condemnatory rhetoric, the usual crew of commentators is now struggling to understand how an American president could be quite so willfully self-destructive.
Stunned by his succession of foreign policy blunders, commentators left and right, domestic and foreign have raised their voices in a veritable chorus of criticism. A Los Angeles Times editorial typically called him so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that he threatened to weaken this countrys moral standing in the world and imperil the planet through his appalling policy choices. Hes a sucker whos shrinking US influence in [Asia] and helping make China great again, wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman after surveying the damage to the countrys Asian alliances from the presidents decision to tear up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal in his first week in office.
The international press has been no less harsh. Reeling from Trumps denunciation of South Koreas free-trade agreement as horrible and his bizarre claim that the country had once been a part of China, Seouls leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, expressed the shock, betrayal, and anger many South Koreans have felt. Assessing his first 100 days in office, Britains venerable Observer commented: Trumps crudely intimidatory, violent, know-nothing approach to sensitive international issues has encircled the globe from Moscow to the Middle East to Beijing, plunging foes and allies alike into a dark vortex of expanding strategic instability."
http://billmoyers.com/story/demolition-us-global-power/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1228 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (1)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Demolition of US Global Power (via Donald Trump) (Original Post)
CousinIT
Jul 2017
OP
Hekate
(90,714 posts)1. Remember PNAC? The signers expected the 21st Century to be the New American Century...
While I vigorously disagreed with their goals and methods, I didn't question their underlying assumption about America's pivotal role in the world. After all, the 20th Century was the American Century already. Our greatness was in our leadership.
Who could have imagined that fringe isolationists would now be ascendant? And that they could destroy our standing in the world so swiftly and rapaciously?
roamer65
(36,745 posts)2. Dump is a tool of the Sino-Russian Alliance.
They want the US in a much weaker role globally.