The world must unite against the menace of Donald Trump

Trump is a deranged force, and it is time for people in the United States, Canada, Europe, and across the globe to recognize the clear and present threat he poses... 

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

In an era where the fragility of democracy is laid bare, one figure stands as a stark emblem of peril—not just to the United States, but to the entire world. Donald Trump, a man whose every action and utterance reeks of malice, sociopathy, callousness, ignorance and racism, embodies a global threat that demands immediate and unified opposition. This is not hyperbole. It is a sober assessment of a leader who commits treason against his own nation with his every breath and action. His corruption surpasses that of any previous U.S. president, his self-serving nature knows no bounds, and his moral bankruptcy is matched only by his profound ignorance.

More alarmingly, Trump poses a danger eclipsing even Adolf Hitler, armed as he is with control over the world’s most potent nuclear arsenal, a military far superior to that of any other nation, and imperial ambitions that could ignite global catastrophe. He is a deranged force, an orange-tinged blight, and it is time for people in the United States, Canada, Europe, and across the globe to recognize the clear and present threat he poses, and rally together to stop him.

Trump’s pathology is evident in his relentless pursuit of power, a hunger that corrupts everything it touches. He revels in symbols of dominance, from skyscrapers emblazoned with his name, to his attempts to imprint his name on institutions that once stood for higher ideals. Consider his brazen move to associate his brand with the Kennedy Centre, a venue honouring John F. Kennedy—a president who symbolized hope and progress. This act alone sullies a legacy of American aspiration, replacing it with the crass commercialism of a man who views the presidency as an extension of his real estate empire, and a way to enrich himself.

But this is merely the surface. Beneath lies a deep-seated racism that seeks to purify the nation in his image, favouring those who are white while unleashing the forces of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on anyone who doesn’t fit his narrow racist vision of what an American should be. Under his influence, ICE operates like a modern Gestapo, targeting racialized immigrants, enforcing policies that tear families apart, and instilling fear in immigrant communities. Tragic cases, such as the alleged executions of figures like Alex Pretti and Renee Good, highlight how this agency has become a fascist cancer within American society, eroding the very principles of justice and basic humanity.

This racism is not isolated. It permeates Trump’s entire worldview, turning policy into a tool of exclusion and violence. He wags the tail of the nation like a dog, using lies upon lies to distract from his true agenda, which is fleecing the US treasury and the world through coercive tactics. His threats to take oil from Venezuela exemplify this, treating the natural wealth of sovereign nations as resources to be plundered for the benefit of the US. Tariffs imposed on trading partners worldwide serve as economic weapons, punishing allies and adversaries alike in a bid to assert global dominance. Trump is like a blood-sucking leech, draining vitality from American society and international relations. Even more disturbing are the personal horrors attributed to him—allegations of predatory behaviour towards vulnerable individuals, including young girls, which underscores a reprehensibility that shocks the conscience.

His supporters, donning their red MAGA hats sit idly by applauding as laws and constitutional rights are trampled to advance their fascist agenda. For them, loyalty to the man overrides fidelity to the republic, creating a cult-like atmosphere where accountability evaporates, not unlike how Germans viewed Hitler in his rise to power.

The danger escalates when we examine Trump’s foreign policy ambitions, which read like a blueprint for imperial conquest. He has openly mused about annexing Greenland, dismissing Denmark’s sovereignty as an inconvenience. His sabre-rattling toward Iran threatens to plunge the Middle East into further chaos, potentially sparking a conflict that could draw in global powers. Regime change in Cuba is another fixation, echoing Cold War aggressions but with modern military might. Perhaps most audaciously, he has joked—or perhaps not—about annexing Canada, treating a peaceful neighbour and ally as territory ripe for seizure. The Panama Canal, a symbol of international cooperation, is similarly in his sights, with vows to reclaim control through whatever means necessary. Trump has made clear that he will deploy any force he deems suitable to achieve his foreign policy goals, whether economic pressure, military intervention, or outright invasion. These are not idle threats. They stem from a mindset that views the world as a zero-sum game, where America’s gain requires the subjugation of others.

Compounding this external menace is Trump’s systematic dismantling of domestic institutions. He has shut down or severely cut back funding for critical agencies, fired top government and military officials—seasoned experts with decades of experience—replacing them with unqualified MAGA acolytes whose primary qualification is unwavering loyalty to him. This purge echoes the authoritarian playbook, where competence is sacrificed for sycophancy. Intelligence chiefs, generals, and senior officials with careers in the government who dared question his whims were ousted, leaving voids filled by ideologues ill-equipped to handle complex crises. The result is a government hollowed out, more prone to blunders that could have worldwide repercussions. Imagine a nuclear decision made not by strategic minds but by yes-men eager to please a volatile leader. This internal rot amplifies the global risk, as a weakened U.S. apparatus becomes a source of instability rather than stability.

To grasp the full scope of the threat, we must draw historical parallels, painful as they are. The last time a man of such malignant character seized control of a powerful nation, it led to World War Two—a conflagration that claimed over 70 million lives and left swaths of Europe and the Far East in ruins. Hitler, too, was underestimated at first, dismissed as a bombastic figure with fringe appeal. Yet his racism, desire for territorial expansion, cult of personality, and goal to “Deutschland wieder groß machen” (Make Germany great again), ignited a horror that reshaped the world. Trump, while not identical, shares eerie similarities--the demonization of minorities, the deconstruction of important government institutions, the erosion of democratic norms, and the pursuit of expanding American territory.

But unlike Hitler, Trump commands a nuclear arsenal capable of ending civilization in minutes, the most powerful military in the world with unparalleled reach, and social media platforms with well over 150 millions followers collectively. His ambitions to invade and occupy other nations could trigger the fracture of decades old alliances, collapse economies, and escalate conflicts into military exchanges that could go nuclear. The people of the United States are bearing the immediate brunt—through eroded rights, economic uncertainty, and social division—but the ripple effects threaten people around the world. Canadians face the spectre of annexation, Europeans the fallout from transatlantic rifts, and nations worldwide the chaos of disrupted trade, fractured supply lines, and heightened militarism.

This is why unity to confront the Trump threat is not optional, it is imperative. People in the U.S. must mobilize through votes, protests, and civic engagement to reclaim their democracy. Congress and the Senate hold the power to check this deranged lunatic—through investigations, impeachments, or legislative barriers—but they have too often faltered, cowed by fear and partisan pressures. Beyond America’s borders, Canada should fortify its sovereignty by pushing back against any encroachment with diplomatic resolve, international alliances, and increased investments in its military. Europeans, drawing from their own history of resisting tyranny, must strengthen NATO and economic ties with nations outside Europe to counter Trump.

Around the world—from Asia to Africa to Latin America—leaders and citizens alike should condemn his aggressions, forming coalitions to isolate his regime economically and politically. International bodies like the United Nations must amplify voices against his threats, while civil society groups coordinate global campaigns to expose his corruption, and push narratives that demonstrate how dangerous he really is.

In the US and overseas there are likely many who are praying for the Trump nightmare to end quickly. But prayer alone is insufficient, what is needed is decisive action. Americans, Canadians and Europeans cannot wait for the blight that is Donald Trump to consume more ground. Trump’s hold on power must be broken, not through violence, but through the collective will of free peoples. Educators should teach the lessons of history to prevent its repetition, journalists must speak truth to power without fear, and everyday citizens must not only engage in dialogue that bridges divides, but also be unafraid to speak out against fascist narratives. In the U.S., this means supporting civil society groups and independent institutions demanding accountability from elected officials. Internationally, it involves solidarity pacts that protect vulnerable nations from his predations.

Yet, the path forward demands nuance. While Trump’s flaws are glaring, the opposition must avoid descending into the same sort of divisiveness he fosters. Unity against him should be rooted in shared values—democracy, human rights, and international cooperation—rather than mere antagonism. By focusing on these principles, we can build a post-Trump era that is more resilient and just. The alternative is unthinkable--a slide toward authoritarianism that could dwarf the devastations of the 1930s and 1940s.

Ultimately Donald Trump represents an existential threat that transcends borders. His sociopathy, megalomania, racism, and fascist impulses endanger not only Americans but the global order. This is a man who can fairly be described as truly sick, a force of extortion and horror that must be stopped. The world has faced such dangers before, and emerged bruised and battered but stronger through unity. Now, as in the shadow of World War Two, we must rise together—Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and all global citizens—to ensure that this orange faced lunatic does not drag us into abyss. The time for action is now. Delay invites disaster. For the sake of our shared humanity and the future of our planet let us commit to this cause, and not repeat the mistakes that allowed a madman in the 1930s to set the world ablaze.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

In the face of the ongoing Gaza Genocide we cannot break or be silent

We cannot allow ourselves to be numbed into despair, exhausted into silence, or lied to until the last Palestinian child has been murdered by a terrorist, genocidal regime.

 

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

To every person of conscience, to every soul still capable of outrage and hope—we have watched horrors unfold that history will never forgive. Since October 2023, Gaza has been subjected to a relentless campaign of annihilation. The numbers are staggering and merciless—tens of thousands murdered outright by the Israeli military, hundreds of thousands more dead from starvation, disease, and the deliberate destruction of every means of sustaining life. The bombs dropped on this tiny strip of land have exceeded—by more than six times—the destructive force of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The most documented genocide in history

What Israel is doing is not war. This is genocide as confirmed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, respected Jewish Holocaust scholars, and various international medical organizations.

This crime of crimes has been carried out with weapons and political cover supplied by the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Canada, and other nations which still dare to speak of upholding “international law” and “human rights” but do nothing uphold the ideals behind those terms. And the genocide continues—even now—despite every ceasefire announcement, every diplomatic phrase, every claim of restraint.

In all of this we see clearly who Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is—a man who has turned the attack of October 7 into a license for the permanent conquest and erasure of the Palestinian people. He speaks of “peace” while ordering extermination. He speaks of “security” while directing the systematic destruction of an entire people’s future—its homes, its hospitals, its schools, its history, its children, its future. Every lie he utters, every racist edict, every mass grave he creates, stains not only his name but the moral credibility of the state he leads carrying out these crimes in the name of the Jewish people.

Netanyahu’s actions will stain Jewish communities around the world for generations. When a state commits atrocities while claiming to act on behalf of an entire people, the world too often answers with the oldest and most dangerous reflex—collective blame. We have seen this movie before, and we must refuse to let it be written again.

The Palestinian people are not collateral damage, they are the target. Their only crime is existing. Their only demand is to live free on the land their ancestors tended for centuries—free from military occupation, free from apartheid walls, free from settler violence, free from the daily humiliation of having their very existence debated as a security threat.

In the face of all this we cannot allow ourselves to be numbed into despair. We cannot allow ourselves to be exhausted into silence. We cannot allow ourselves to be lied to until the last Palestinian child’s voice is extinguished.

The day of reckoning for the criminal perpetrators of the Gaza genocide is inevitable. Those who ordered, enabled, financed, and excused this genocide will one day face justice, the judgment of history and of humanity. And that day arrives faster when ordinary people refuse to look away and be complicit through their silence.

As human beings witnessing horrors we will never forget, we demand—loudly, unapologetically, and without compromise—that our governments:

• Use all political, diplomatic and military means at their disposal to stop Israel’s genocidal crimes; 
• Open all of Gaza’s borders to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave;
• Immediately and unconditionally call for the release of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli detention without charge or trial;
• Support the suspension and expulsion of Israel from the United Nations and all international institutions until it complies with international law;
• Impose a full military, economic, and trade embargo on Israel;
• Issue arrest warrants for all of Israel’s political and military leaders involved in implementing genocidal policies;
• Expel the Israeli ambassador and recall our own from Tel Aviv;
• Publicly and definitively reject the very flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism;
• Uphold and defend the rights of Palestinians to freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly;
• Require the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied Palestinian territories;
• Pursue accountability through international courts and under the concept of universal jurisdiction for every individual and every individual and institution responsible for crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.

This is not a list of distant ideals. These are the minimum conditions of justice. Anything less is continued partnership in a crime against humanity.

The eyes of the world are watching those who have power to act. The future of an entire people—and the soul of the so-called “rules-based international order”—now depends on whether our leaders choose cowardice and political expediency or courage.

Do not wait for the perfect moment. Do not wait until the last house in Gaza is rubble and the last Palestinian child has been silenced.

It is our duty as beings who claim to be human to rise up, speak out, organize, disrupt, and demand until there is justice, safety and freedom for Palestinians.

We cannot bend or break. We cannot forget, and we will not forgive complicity.

Free Palestine—from the river to the sea—and from the river to the sea, justice will prevail.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

Dismantling the Zionist myth of divine entitlement to claims on Palestinian territory

Palestinians can trace their roots to ancient Canaanites, with genetic continuity linking modern Palestinians to Bronze Age populations far more directly than the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jew.

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

The notion that the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea—historic Palestine—was divinely ceded to the Jewish people, granting them perpetual ownership, has long served as a cornerstone of Zionist and Israeli narratives. This claim, rooted in ancient religious texts, has been invoked since the 1940s by Israel and its supporters to justify decades of displacement, occupation, and violence against Palestinians. Yet, it crumbles under scrutiny.

"This Land Is Mine": A History of Who Owns Palestine

Not only does the premise lack a foundation in modern international law, but it ignores the deep, continuous ties Palestinians—Muslims, Christians, and indigenous Jews—have to the land, far surpassing those of the predominantly European Ashkenazi Jews who arrived in waves over the past 125 years. The reality is that Palestinians are not interlopers in the lands that Israel controls despite what Zionists claim.  They are the indigenous stewards of this territory, their presence woven into its soil for millennia. In contrast, the Zionist colonial project mirrors the settler colonialism that ravaged the Americas and Australia, where European arrivals displaced indigenous and aboriginal populations under the fabricated pretexts of empty or unclaimed land.

The Zionist myth of divine right perpetuates a dangerous exceptionalism, portraying Israelis as the “chosen” inheritors while erasing Palestinian history and humanity. The stark reality is that the land is not too small for coexistence between two peoples, as evidenced by nations like Belgium and Haiti, which share similar sizes and populations (around 12 million each) without descending into ethnic purges. What obstructs peace between Israeli Jews and Palestinians is Israel’s adherence to policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, initiated in the 1947-1948 war and continuing until the present day. Coexistence demands rejecting the idea that God favours one group over another, a concept absent from equitable interpretations of faith and incompatible with the concept of universal human rights.

Historic Palestine’s story begins not with divine decrees but with human habitation. Palestinians can trace their roots to ancient Canaanites, with genetic continuity linking modern Palestinians to Bronze Age populations far more directly than most Ashkenazi Jews. Studies of the DNA of Palestinians—encompassing Muslims, Christians, and Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews who lived harmoniously under Arab rule—reveals that they share over half their ancestry with ancient Canaanites, the biblical forebears of the region. In contrast, Ashkenazi Jews, who form the majority of Israel’s population, exhibit significant European ethnic heritage, with origins tracing to migrations and conversions in Europe, not a straight line to ancient Israelites. One analysis notes that Palestinians in the Holy Land retain a genetic makeup far closer to first-millennium BCE Israelites and Canaanites than Ashkenazi Europeans. This underscores that Ashkenazi arrivals are relative newcomers, with their claims bolstered primarily by colonial-era migrations rather than an unbroken lineage tracing back to ancient times.

The Zionist narrative also conveniently overlooks the fact that while Jews were expelled from Jerusalem by Romans in the first and second centuries CE they were never barred from settling within Palestine. Historical records show that while many dispersed into the diaspora, Jewish communities persisted in the territory and there was no absolute prohibition that prevented them settling outside that city. Roman policies led to the creation of a diaspora, but some Jews remained, and others could have returned under varying rulers but didn’t. The region saw waves of conquerors over the centuries, yet under Arab and Ottoman governance—from 637 to 1917, spanning roughly 1,200 years, interrupted briefly by Crusader and Egyptian interludes—Palestine experienced relative stability. The Ottoman Empire controlled the territory for about 400 years (1516–1917)⁹, and during this era, indigenous Palestinians—Muslims, Christians, and Jews—coexisted, with the land’s defined by a shared culture and history.

A pivotal example of inclusive Muslim rule in Palestine is Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. Far from excluding Jews, Saladin explicitly invited Jewish families to return, guaranteeing freedom of worship. He extended tolerance to Christians, preserving their churches and allowing pilgrimage to holy sites. This benevolence contrasts sharply with European Christian persecutions, where Jews faced massacres and expulsions. Many Jews thrived in Muslim-majority lands from Morocco to Iran, enjoying relative peace and prosperity, which explains why mass returns to Palestine did not occur until Zionist mobilization in the late 19th century. The “eternal dream” of return was, for centuries, a minority pursuit given the peace and prosperity that Jews experienced in Muslim lands. This is also evidenced by the fact that at the turn of the 20th century, Jews comprised only about 4% of Palestine’s population, around 24,000 out of approximately 586,000.

Zionist leaders were acutely aware of this demographic reality—the overwhelming Palestinian majority in a land they sought to claim—but they pressed forward with their colonial vision undeterred. The infamous slogan “a land without a people for a people without a land,” popularized by early Zionists, mirrored the European colonial doctrine of “terra nullius,” which falsely declared indigenous territories as empty or unowned to rationalize conquest and dispossession. This legal fiction was wielded by European powers to seize lands in the Americas and Australia, ignoring thriving native civilizations with deep-rooted societies, economies, and spiritual connections to the land.

Similarly, in Palestine, this Zionist myth served as propaganda to portray the region as desolate, ripe for Jewish settlement, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Palestine was no barren wasteland. It was a vibrant mosaic of life, teeming with hundreds of cities, towns, and villages where Palestinian families had nurtured olive groves, tended fruit orchards, herded livestock, and forged communities over centuries of continuous habitation. Archaeological and historical records, including maps from the Roman era onward, consistently label the region as “Palestine” or “Palestina,” debunking Zionist assertions that the land or its people never existed as such. Palestinians’ continuing self-identification as a distinct people, with a shared language, culture, and heritage, further solidifies their national identity, even if formal nationalism, like Zionism itself, only emerged in the modern era. This parallel development does not diminish Palestinian indigeneity. It highlights how both identities were shaped by 19th and 20th century political awakenings, yet Palestinians’ ties to the soil predate these constructs by millennia.

The Nakba of 1948 laid bare the true intent of Zionism, which was not peaceful coexistence, but systematic erasure of the Palestinian presence to engineer a Jewish ethnostate. Zionist militias, considered terrorists by British Mandate authorities, well-armed and organized under plans like Plan Dalet, launched a premeditated war to seize territory beyond the UN partition proposal, expelling over 750,000 Palestinians—more than half the indigenous population—and erasing more than 500 villages to prevent their return. This catastrophe was no accidental by-product of conflict but rather was orchestrated with chilling precision.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, openly advocated for ethnic cleansing in plans for the conquest of Palestine. In a 1937 letter to his son, he declared, “We must expel Arabs and take their places... and, if we have to use force... then we have force at our disposal.” A decade later, in 1948, he reinforced this when he said, “We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.” Echoing this ruthless resolve Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first president, dismissed Palestinians as mere “rocks of Judea, as obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path.” Yosef Weitz, a key figure in the Jewish National Fund, was even more explicit: “There is no room for both peoples together in this country...The only solution is a Palestine without Arabs.”

These damning statements, drawn from personal correspondences and official records, confirm that the Nakba was a deliberate campaign of violence and displacement, paralleling settler colonial genocides in other continents where indigenous peoples were forcibly removed to make way for European settlers. Additional Zionist voices, such as Israel’s second prime minister Moshe Sharett, lamented the “Arab problem” and endorsed transfer (ethnic cleansing), and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who advocated an “iron wall” of force against the native population.  All these statements underscore the ideological commitment of Zionist leaders to demographic engineering through expulsion, ethnic cleansing, and eventually genocide.

Today, the demographic balance in Israel and the occupied territories remains strikingly even, with approximately 7.8 million Jews and over 7.4 million Palestinians, including 2.1 million Palestinian citizens of Israel and about 5.3 million in the West Bank and Gaza. Yet Israel’s policies of a decades long brutal occupation, blockades, expanding settlements, and repeated military assaults are designed to disrupt this parity, perpetuating a system of apartheid and demographic control. The ongoing genocide in Gaza, ignited by the October 2023 Hamas attack, exemplifies this brutality. The official Palestinian death toll now exceeds 76,000, but comprehensive studies incorporating indirect fatalities from starvation, disease, and collapsed infrastructure paint a far grimmer picture. Research by Ben Gurion University academic Yaakov Garb, using data from the Israeli military, estimates 377,000 to 400,000 deaths, while analyses by Australian academics Richard Hil and Gideon Polya suggest 680,000 to 700,000 Palestinian dead as of April 2025. These staggering figures include up to 380,000 children under five, drawing inescapable parallels to Nazi atrocities—systematic crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that have decimated generations.

Israel’s actions embody textbook settler colonialism--the displacement of native populations, the importation of foreign settlers, and the rewriting of history to legitimize land theft. Just as European conquerors in the Americas dismissed complex indigenous societies as primitive and in Australia proclaimed Aboriginal lands as empty, Zionists reframed Palestine as vacant, ignoring its millennia-old societies and civilizations. Yet Palestinians endure, their bloodlines, cultural traditions, and historical narratives inextricably bound to the land, far more so than the European-descended settlers who arrived in the 20th century. Over seven million Jews and more than seven million Palestinians claim no other homeland.  And that Palestinian claim to the land erases the Zionist narrative of absolute entitlement that has perpetuated almost eight decades of Israeli injustice.

True peace demands the urgent dismantling of these colonial myths through robust international intervention, including deploying a multinational peacekeeping force to shield Palestinians from Israeli state-sponsored violence, mandating the immediate evacuation of over 700,000 illegal Jewish settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and affirming Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem as sovereign Palestinian territory under international law, with conditions or restrictions. This is not merely pragmatic, it is a moral imperative to rectify decades of brutal dispossession and affirm the universal right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.

Only by prioritizing human rights over divine or ancient historical claims can a shared future be forged embodying dignity, equality, and genuine coexistence, where the land between the river and the sea becomes a beacon of reconciliation rather than a graveyard of conquest. The world must act now before more generations of Palestinians are lost to ensure that justice prevails and peace becomes a reality from the river to the sea rather than a fleeting and unfulfilled dream.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

Trump’s treasonous acts are rotting the soul of the US and destroying American democracy

Donald Trump’s presidency is the opening act of America's tragic decline. By rotting the nation’s collective soul he irreversibly embeds fascism into the heart of US political culture.

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

A nation can survive its fools as leaders and even their ambitions. But it cannot survive treason from within, and that is what Donald Trump is committing—treason against the United States since he was re-elected in 2024. In most instances the traitor doesn’t appear as a traitor but rather as someone who speaks in language and ideas familiar to their victims, appealing to the basest instincts that lie deep within the hearts of all human beings. But when in power, they rot the soul of a nation with their policies and actions, working secretly and openly to undermine its foundational pillars. They infect the body politic so deeply that it can no longer resist their machinations. One could even say that in some ways they are to be more feared than hardened criminals.

As the world enters the second year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, the US (and the world) stands at a precipice. Trump’s return to the White House, admittedly a remarkable political resurrection, has also been a harbinger of an irreversible decline. His leadership and the people in his administration are systematically eroding the moral and institutional foundations of the US, transforming it from a supposed beacon of democracy into a hollow shell of authoritarianism. This is not hyperbole but a sober assessment drawn from historical parallels and contemporary analyses. Trump’s presidency is rotting the soul of America, initiating a long decline from superpower status that future administrations will be unlikely to reverse.

Consider the soul of a nation as its collective ethos—the shared values of liberty, justice, and human dignity that American leaders have used to define the nation since its founding. Trump has assaulted this ethos in a relentless fashion since his first administration. His rhetoric, laced with divisive and dehumanizing language, has normalized hatred and eroded empathy in American society. As one critical essay noted, Trump embodies a reflection of America’s darker impulses, much like the portrait in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, revealing the ugliness beneath the surface. His policies and pronouncements have fostered a culture where truth is malleable, facts are “alternative,” and dissent is branded as terrorism or disloyalty. This corrosion is evident in the surge of political violence and polarization that has intensified since his first election in 2016. Scholars have argued that Trump’s presidency destroyed virtues essential to national ambition like intellectualism and integrity, leading to a shredding of the nation’s moral fabric.

This rotting of America’s soul, which has been in progress for years, is inextricably linked to the nation’s slow decline as a global superpower. For decades, the US has maintained its hegemony through military might, economic dominance, and soft power—while trumpeting the allure of its democratic ideals. Under Trump, these pillars are deteriorating. His isolationist “America First” agenda has alienated allies, weakened international institutions, and emboldened adversaries like Russia and China. Analyses by senior officials from the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations highlight how Trump’s decisions have systematically shrunk the US from a global leader to a regional power, with irreversible damage to its credibility. The abandonment of multilateral agreements, such as his threats to withdraw from NATO and pull back from multiple international institutions and bodies, has signalled to the world that America is unreliable as a partner and an ally. As one report starkly puts it, Trump’s administration is steadily undermining US power, creating a more chaotic international order where American influence diminishes with every passing day. And this decline is structural not temporary. The erosion of trust in the US by its allies and trading partners means that even if the Democrats regained power they would struggle to rebuild alliances and friendships, marking the beginning of a long, inexorable slide from superpower status.

Central to this transformation is Trump’s pushing the US toward fascism, epitomized by his weaponization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a modern day gestapo, his scapegoating of immigrants and the LGBTQ2 and his systematic efforts to delegitimize democratic institutions. Under Trump’s directives, ICE has expanded into a paramilitary force with a budget surpassing all other policing agencies combined, instigating deadly violence on the streets of American cities, conducting raids, mass deportations, and surveillance that echo the tactics of authoritarian regimes. Reports from human rights observers describe ICE operations as intensifying in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo, with agents employing fear and brutality to enforce draconian policies.

Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants as “vermin” and “poisoning the blood” of America draws directly from Hitler’s playbook, dehumanizing entire populations to justify state violence. This is not mere enforcement of immigration law, it is the building of an authoritarian state apparatus. Critics of Trump’s regime argue that he has successfully created a fascist state through his policies and actions—a nation that fought fascism in World War Two at great cost has become a fascist authoritarian state, where loyalty to Trump’s personality cult supersedes the rule of law, and dissent is crushed under the guise of security.

However, the most chilling aspect of Trump’s embrace of fascism is that it is not confined to Trump himself. It is embedded in the MAGA movement that is the foundation of his power, and the people around him, ensuring it will not disappear even if Trump leaves the stage through impeachment, defeat, or death. Figures like Vice President J.D. Vance—a one-time critic of Trump who compared him to Hitler—embody this enduring threat. He has become a fervent disciple, echoing the fascist undertones of MAGA ideology with appeals to raw power and exclusionary, racist nationalism.

Analyses of Trumpism describe it as a form of authoritarianism that radicalizes in office, with leaders like Vance and cabinet members worshipping at the altar of Trump’s ideology and his personality cult. The cabinet, stocked with loyalists who prioritize personal allegiance over constitutional duty, includes ideologues who push for policies that entrench fascist elements—such as mass surveillance, voter suppression, and the erosion of judicial independence. Even if Trump vanished, these true believers would continue to carry his torch, even as fascism in America becomes a cancer and not the personal quirk of one man. Scholars warn that utilizing terms like “fascism” to describe what is happening in the US is politically essential to mobilize against this movement, which has realigned political and economic grievances into nationalist exclusion.

Beyond America’s borders, Trump’s fixation on the Arctic poses existential dangers to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. As Arctic nations, these countries not only control vital resources but also strategic sea lanes that will become increasingly contested due to climate change and thawing Arctic ice. Trump’s repeated threats to seize Greenland—which he framed as essential for US security—reveal a colonial and imperialist mindset that treats sovereign territories as real estate that can be bought or threatened into the arms of the US. His administration views the Arctic as a battleground against Russia and China, but his aggressive rhetoric has escalated tensions, putting allies at risk. For Canada, this means heightened vulnerability in the Arctic, where Trump’s complaints about inadequate defences could lead to coercive demands or unilateral US actions on or over Canadian territory in the far north.

Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory, faces direct threats of annexation which could destabilize NATO and invite broader conflicts, despite Trump’s recent walk back. Key Arctic allies Iceland and Norway, are similarly endangered by Trump’s zero-sum approach, which prioritizes American dominance over cooperative security. Experts argue that Trump’s Greenland gambit exposes the costs of overt aggression, risking monumental fallout across the NATO alliance. This obsession exposes Trump’s ignorance, political folly and antipathy towards international relations and diplomacy that endangers the delicate balance that has maintained stability in the Arctic for more than a century.

Ultimately, Donald Trump’s presidency is not just another chapter in American history but the opening act of its tragic decline. By rotting the nation’s collective soul with the ugliness of his political vision, fostering fascism through institutions like ICE, initiating racist immigration policies, and vilifying immigrants, minorities and anyone who opposes him, Trump is embedding an irreversible authoritarian movement into the heart of US political culture, and setting the nation on a path from which recovery seems impossible in the short term. The dangers also extend northward, threatening Canada and its Arctic neighbours with a belligerent hegemonic power fixated on territorial expansion.

History teaches us that empires fall not from external foes but from internal rot, and the US is no exception—its foundations crumbling under the weight of division, deceit, and demagoguery sown by a leader who prioritizes and covets absolute power over principle. From the Roman Empire’s descent into corruption and tyranny to the British Empire’s erosion through moral decay and overreach, the pattern is clear—nations implode when their core values are poisoned from within, and when they allow personalities into positions of leadership who crave political and economic supremacy at home and abroad.

The Trump era has accelerated America’s decay, turning democratic institutions into tools of oppression, eroding trust in government, and normalizing hatred that fractures communities and silences dissent. It is time for the world—and Americans themselves—to recognize Trump’s treason from within as the insidious betrayal it truly is—a deliberate assault on liberty, equality, and justice that echoes the darkest chapters of history. Americans must act with unyielding resolve, through global solidarity, vigilant advocacy, and unwavering resistance, before the pillars of American democracy collapse entirely, leaving behind a hollow shell of what was once a nation that saw itself a beacon of democracy and freedom, and dragging its neighbours and allies into the abyss of instability and conflict.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

Carney and Poilievre demonstrate galling hypocrisy on preventing genocide in Holocaust Remembrance Day speeches

Without acknowledging the Gaza genocide Carney and Poilievre diminish the humanity of Palestinians, further reinforcing Canadian complicity in Israeli atrocities.

 

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

 

Canada’s political leaders gathered at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa today (January 27) to pay solemn tribute to the victims of one of history’s darkest chapters. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stood before the stark memorial, intoning the sacred vow of “never again.” Their words echoed the memory of the Holocaust’s atrocities and acknowledged Canada’s own historical complicity in turning away Jewish refugees during World War II. Carney spoke of the consequences of ignorance and hatred, emphasizing vigilance so that “never again” remains true. Poilievre highlighted rising antisemitism and the need for Jews to feel safe in Canada, declaring that only then would the oath be fulfilled. It was a poignant ceremony, meant to reaffirm our collective commitment to preventing genocide.

However, this display rings profoundly hollow. As these politicians uttered “never again,” a genocide continues to unfold in real time in Gaza, broadcast live on social media for the world to witness. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, ongoing since October 2023, has caused massive loss of life. While official figures put the death toll at more than 76,000 resulting from Israeli military assaults, independent analyses report hundreds of thousands of deaths (a third of them children) from famine, disease, infrastructure collapse, and malnutrition, pushing the total to more than 377,000 according to Ben Gurion University professor Yaakov Garb, and over 680,000 in an analysis by Australian academics Gideon Polya and Richard Hil. Emaciated children, bombed hospitals, destroyed neighbourhoods, and aid convoys turned into kill zones—these horrors are not concealed but streamed in high definition. Despite this visibility, Western leaders, including those in Canada, avert their eyes, offering political platitudes while enabling the violence through arms transfers and diplomatic cover.

This is the betrayal of “never again,” a phrase forged from the Holocaust’s ashes, meant to include all victims of genocide, but now selectively applied. The Gaza situation surpasses the Holocaust in visibility (live-streamed atrocities versus hidden camps), duration (spanning 78 years from the 1948 Nakba onward, including the 2007 blockade turning Gaza into an open-air concentration camp), inversion of victim and perpetrator (Israel invoking Holocaust narratives to justify genocide against Palestinians), and complicity (Western allies actively enabling Israel in its genocidal crimes). During the Holocaust, Nazis operated in secrecy and Allied forces uncovered the full horror only upon liberation. In Gaza, images and video of the genocide are widely shared on social media and perpetrators often share footage of destruction, yet no decisive intervention follows by the nations intoning “never again” in ceremonies today.

Canada’s complicity is particularly stark. Despite a 2024 pause on new military export permits to Israel, a major loophole persists. Canadian-made weapons components—aircraft parts, explosives, and armoured vehicle technology—are shipped to U.S. firms, then integrated into systems sent to Israel. Reports document dozens of such shipments since 2024, including aircraft components matched to Israeli imports between 2024 and 2025. Advocacy groups like Arms Embargo Now have exposed this “U.S. loophole,” which bypasses Canada’s permitting and human rights assessments. Bills like the No More Loopholes Act (C-233), introduced in 2025, seek to close it, but progress lags. Critics warn these exports make Canada complicit in Israeli war crimes. Meanwhile, Carney and Poilievre condemned antisemitism during today’s speeches, addressed the need to fight racism and hate, but made no reference to hate that has resulted in Gaza’s suffering or Canada’s role in sustaining it—transforming today’s remembrance ceremony into and exercise in national hypocrisy.

In his remarks Poilievre emphasized protection against antisemitism, yet his silence on Israeli atrocities in Gaza aligns with the unequivocal support the Conservatives have given Israel historically. Meanwhile, Carney’s government talks about its concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza but sustains the arms pipeline to Israel indirectly. Today’s ceremony, which failed to acknowledge the Gaza genocide causes “never again” to mean “never again to us,” applying only to Jews, thereby diminishing the humanity and lives of Palestinians. This selective remembrance, placing the lives of Jewish Holocaust victims above all others, inverts roles, where Israel invokes historic trauma and plays the victim while inflicting atrocities on Palestinians that have been labelled genocide by respected international organizations, human rights experts, Holocaust scholars, Jewish intellectuals, and others, crimes that have widespread support among Israeli Jews, according to a March 2025 poll in Ha’aretz.

Gaza’s decades of suffering and oppression traces back to the 1948 Nakba, when over 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from over 500 towns and villages. The ongoing blockade of the enclave since 2007 has rationed essentials, inflicting generational despair. Bodies like the International Court of Justice, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem have documented crimes that meet the definition of genocide, yet Canada provides political cover and tacit support via legal loopholes and continued diplomatic and economic relationships.

Compounding this is Holocaust Remembrance Day’s narrow framing. Statements from Carney, Poilievre, and other politicians focused almost exclusively on the six million Jewish victims. This omits a critical truth. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that Nazis murdered 11-17 million people total, including Roma, disabled individuals, Soviet POWs (millions starved), Slavic peoples (nearly two million killed), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and dissidents. By erasing these 5-11 million non-Jewish victims from public discourse, we mock the observance and insult their memory. It reduces the Holocaust to a singular narrative serving political ends, not universal lessons against all genocides. This moral hierarchy—elevating some sufferings while sidelining others, like the Holodomor, Cambodian genocide or colonial atrocities, normalizes apathy towards atrocities still being committed in Gaza.

This is a scenario where Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” applies, one where bureaucratic loopholes, diplomatic silences, and selective remembrances enable horrors. Carney and Poilievre’s remarks today in front of a monument to one of the worst horrors of the 20th Century, neglecting to connect past to present, betrays the vow of “never again.”

To truly honour the memory of Holocaust victims would require closing arms loopholes, imposing broad sanctions, recognizing more than 75 years of Palestinian suffering, and expanding remembrance to all victims. Only then can “never again” mean never again for anyone, anywhere.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

The unrestrained madness of Donald Trump is a threat to global peace and stability

Trump’s actions will have long-lasting negative repercussions geopolitically and economically, destabilizing the global order. . .From the wreckage Trump is making we must rebuild a global order rooted in moral authority. 

 
By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

In the streets of our imagination, picture a deranged man wielding a knife, darting erratically through crowds, shouting threats, slashing at bystanders, and occasionally delivering a fatal blow. The authorities—police chiefs, community leaders, politicians—wring their hands, complain loudly about the chaos, but then do nothing to intervene. They watch as the violent rampage escalates, the man emboldened by their inaction to ratchet up his violent assaults.

This is not a scene from a horror film but rather an apt metaphor for Donald Trump’s presidency since he returned to the Oval Office in January 2025. Trump, the man who once boasted he could shoot someone on New York City’s Fifth Avenue without losing support, now acts with impunity, “murdering” the norms of democracy at home and abroad. He unleashes policies that harm all Americans, Venezuelans in Caracas, Cubans, and others across the Caribbean and Latin America. He is unconstrained neither by domestic laws, congressional oversight from a compliant Republican majority, nor by judicial checks from a Supreme Court conservative majority, or international law that he treats as toothless. As he told a New York Times reporter, “The only thing that can stop me is my own morality. My own mind.” This self-proclaimed and extremely flawed moral compass guides a domestic (and foreign) policy of aggression, one where armed agents of ICE, border security, and homeland security intimidate or worse, target racialized immigrants, anti-genocide demonstrators, and perceived political opponents.

Since his return to office everyone, including many political opponents, have given wide berth to this unconstrained madman, fearing his ire will be directed at them. As has been amply demonstrated over the past year, Trump’s power to silence and extort extends to powerful media organizations, universities, major law firms, prominent cultural institutions, Wall Street, corporations, and foreign nations. Yet, as Robert Reich, Labor Secretary during the Clinton era, noted in a prescient piece, an unconstrained madman who reveals his danger also galvanizes resistance. The more Trump’s violence is out in the open, the larger the push back, both domestically and internationally. Peaceful protests against his policies are spreading, and traditional allies are banding together against him. But in this second term, the rampage feels more unhinged, more lethal, because the safeguards that once existed are gone.

During Trump’s first administration, there were “adults in the room”—figures like James Mattis, John Kelly, and Rex Tillerson—who, despite their flaws, provided some restraint on his megalomania and impulsive insanity. These establishment Republicans and military veterans acted as guardrails, tempering his worst instincts on issues like withdrawing from NATO or erratic foreign military adventures. They weren’t perfect because they enabled much of his agenda, but they prevented total catastrophe. Mattis, for instance, reportedly convinced Trump against torturing detainees or assassinating foreign leaders outright. Kelly managed the chaos in the White House, imposing order where there was none. Even critics who mocked the “adults in the room” narrative now admit, in hindsight, that their presence mitigated damage. As one analyst put it, they were the moderating influence that kept the toddler-president from burning down the house.

In stark contrast, Trump’s second administration is devoid of such figures. He has surrounded himself with butt-kissers, boot-lickers, and MAGA acolytes who worship at the altar of his personality cult. These are not independent thinkers but enablers, echoing his every whim without question. Figures like Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff who proclaimed in an interview on CNN that the world is governed by strength, force, and power—the “iron laws” since time immemorial—embody this sycophantic ethos. Miller’s nativist bigotry now drives policy unchecked. The cabinet is filled with loyalists who prioritize Trump’s ego over expertise, people who are election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and opportunists who see his power as their opportunity. This inner circle is no different from the sycophants who surrounded Adolf Hitler as he launched his campaign to “Make Germany Great Again.” Hitler’s enablers—Goebbels, Himmler, Göring—flattered his delusions, amplified his hatreds, and executed his madness without moral qualms. Similarly, Trump’s team nods along as he shreds alliances, threatens invasions, and dismantles institutions, all in service to his cult of personality.

At this juncture in history, Trump poses a danger to the world comparable to Hitler in the 1930s. While not identical—Trump hasn’t orchestrated genocide (yet)— the parallels in their authoritarian playbooks are chilling. Both rose amid economic discontent, scapegoating minorities and “elites.” Both promised national revival through strength and exclusion. Hitler dismantled the Weimar Republic’s fragile democracy, and Trump assaults America’s institutions, from the Justice Department to the free press. In the 1930s, Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations, remilitarized the Rhineland, and annexed Austria, testing the world’s resolve. Today, Trump has shredded the imperfect but functional international order that maintained global peace since World War 2. He pulled the US from the Paris Climate Accord, withdrew from the World Health Organization, and effectively renounced the 1951 Refugee Convention. His executive order mandating a review of all multilateral organizations and treaties signals the potential end of US involvement in the UN itself. In Venezuela, he ordered a brazen attack to seize President Nicolás Maduro, violating sovereignty and echoing 19th-century gunboat diplomacy. Threats to annex Greenland and Canada, invade Mexico, or bomb Colombia flout international law, replacing rules with raw power. As one expert warns, this is “shattering the post-World War 2 order as never before,” leaving a world unrecognizable.

Trump’s actions will have long-lasting negative repercussions geopolitically and economically, destabilizing the global order. The post-WW2 framework—built on military alliances like NATO, trade bodies like the World Trade Organization, and norms against aggression—prevented another world war for eight decades. Trump treats these all as a burden and constraint on American power, imposing tariffs that fracture supply chains, weaponize economic integration, and exploit vulnerabilities. His “America First” agenda accelerates great-power rivalry, emboldening Russia and China. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which Trump has tacitly supported by withholding aid to the Ukrainians, mirrors Hitler’s early aggressions. Economically, his tariffs and isolationism disrupt global markets, fuelling inflation and uncertainty. The world economy, already fragile, faces further chaos as alliances fray and trade wars escalate due to Trump’s actions.

In all of this those who will pay the biggest price are the least powerful—the weak, the economically impoverished, and average consumers. As prices rise for essentials, the burden falls heaviest on the vulnerable. Food, in particular, has seen unprecedented inflation in Western economies over the past few years. In the US beef and veal prices surged 16.4% year-over-year in 2025, driven by a shrinking American cattle herds. Coffee jumped 1.9% monthly in December 2025, reaching $9.05 per pound. Eggs spiked dramatically, with retail prices falling only after peaks in 2023-2024 but still elevated due to the culling of chickens battered by avian flu outbreaks. Wheat prices, volatile since the start of Russia-Ukraine war, decreased 11.1% in 2025 but remain high overall. Sugar and dairy products also saw sharp rises, with “other foods” like sweets up 31% since 2020.

These increases, compounded by Trump’s tariffs on imports, hit low-income households hardest, eroding purchasing power for basic life necessities. In the US, food inflation outpaced overall inflation at 3.1% annually in 2025, up 19% since 2022. Globally, the FAO Food Price Index averaged 127.2 points in 2025, 4.3% higher than 2024. The poor, already struggling, face malnutrition and hardship as Trump’s destabilization ripples through commodity markets around the world.

This is where “middle powers”—as articulated by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in his Davos speech—must step up. Carney warned of a “rupture, not a transition” in the global order, urging middle powers like Canada, Australia, South Korea, France, the UK and others to act together. “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” he declared, calling for collective resistance against great-power coercion. These nations need to do more than talk and hold meetings. They must behave as if they are already at war with the Trump’s disruptive force. Appeasing him—through concessions on trade or security—will only invite further chaos and instability. History shows appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s led to war, and today the same policy with Trump risks repeating that dark chapter. In the face of this possible future middle powers should fortify alliances, diversify trade, bolster multilateral institutions, dramatically boost defence spending, and counter Trump’s unilateralism with coordinated diplomacy. As Carney emphasized, the power of legitimacy, integrity, and rules can prevail if wielded boldly.

If we are to accept Miller’s argument of the “iron laws” of strength and force, and the world were governed solely by might, then we would be in perpetual warfare, with no safety for anyone. We must strive for nations and a world governed by laws, rules, and norms that constrain the powerful, including Trump and the fascist thugs around him.

The struggle we face will be unlike anything witnessed in our lifetimes. It will not be won through aggression, but through unwavering commitment to democracy, the rule of law, and social justice. We will stop Trump with resolute determination—so that our children and grandchildren never live under a dictatorship. We cannot allow despair, fear, or paralysis to take hold, nor can we abandon the principles that define us.

From the wreckage Trump is making of the institutions and laws that have shaped our imperfect world, we will rebuild a society and global order rooted in moral authority rather than bombs. A world where greatness is measured by shared prosperity, not by the concentrated wealth of billionaires or the grip of fascist oligarchs. As in World War II, this is a battle we must win—and then, just as crucially, we must rebuild. Because that is the only path forward we have.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

The United States has gone from supposed guardian to destroyer of the post-World War Two international order

The old world order is gone . . . Nostalgia won’t save us, but honesty and strength at home, and collective action abroad can forge a better future.

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

In what has been called an era-defining speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid bare the “rupture” in the global order that has sustained relative peace and prosperity globally since the end of World War Two. Drawing on Václav Havel’s parable of the greengrocer who props up a false system by displaying a sign he doesn’t believe in, Carney urged middle powers to stop “living within the lie” of a rules-based international system that no longer exists. The great powers, he argued—with a clear reference to the United States—now pursue naked self-interest, weaponizing economic integration and abandoning multilateral institutions.

For Canada, this means confronting a brutal reality where our largest trading partner, the US, is no longer an ally but an active enemy of the world order that has kept global peace for eight decades. It’s time for Canadians to remove our own signs of compliance, recognize the US as a clear threat to our sovereignty, and forge new alliances with nations that still uphold values like territorial integrity, multilateralism, and solidarity.

The post-World War Two order, built on institutions like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, was imperfect but effective in preventing large-scale conflicts and promoting collective security and prosperity. The US, as its chief architect, provided benefits such as guaranteeing open sea lanes and supporting dispute resolution mechanisms. But under Donald Trump’s second presidency, America has morphed into a rogue actor, dismantling these very foundations through unilateral aggression and imperial overreach.

Consider the US military incursion into Venezuela on January 3, 2026, where special forces captured President Nicolás Maduro in a raid involving airstrikes on military installations and the temporary blackout of parts of Caracas. Trump brazenly declared that the US would “run the country” until a transition to a new regime suited American interests, echoing colonial-era interventions and violating the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force except in self-defence or with Security Council approval. This operation, planned for months without congressional authorization, underscores how the US now flouts international law, treating sovereign nations as extensions of American interests or as vassal states.

Trump’s threats against Iran further illustrate this erosion. Amid widespread protests in Iran, Trump has repeatedly warned of “very strong action,” including military strikes, if the regime executes demonstrators. He has gone so far as to vow that Iran would be “wiped off the face of this earth“ if it acts on assassination threats against him or harms protesters. While he dialed back immediate action after reports of declining violence, the sabre-rattling persists, with options like cyberattacks and airstrikes on the table. Such rhetoric not only destabilizes the Middle East but revives the spectre of pre-emptive wars, reminiscent of the 2003 Iraq invasion that shattered global trust in US leadership.

Even more insidious is Trump’s effort to “own” Gaza through his so-called “Board of Peace.” Ostensibly created to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction following Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, under a 20-point ceasefire plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, this body has ballooned into a pay-to-play imperial council with Trump appointing himself as chairman. Nations can buy permanent seats for $1 billion, with funds supposedly for rebuilding, but the charter omits any specific mention of Gaza, instead positioning the board as a “bold new approach to resolving global conflict” that could supplant the UN. This includes an executive committee controlling Gaza’s demilitarization and governance, effectively placing the territory under US-led oversight and sidelining Palestinian self-determination. By commodifying international diplomacy and bypassing established institutions, Trump is not building peace but entrenching US hegemony, turning the post-war order into a marketplace for those who can afford to pay his price.

For Canada, the implications are dire. Despite being our largest trading partner and neighbour, the US under Trump is no longer a friend or ally. Trump’s fixation on territorial expansion directly threatens our sovereignty as well as Greenland’s, Mexico’s and that of other nations. He has repeatedly floated annexing Canada as the 51st state since he was re-elected, citing our vast natural resources as motivations. In a September 2025 speech, he claimed Canadian leaders wanted to join his “Golden Dome” missile defense system “for free,” retorting, “Why don’t you just join our country? You become the 51st state.” Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that these threats stem from the US coveting Canadian resources, noting, “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.”

This ambition extends to the Arctic, where Trump’s wants the US to seize Greenland, and has threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and allies like Norway, Sweden, France and the UK if they oppose his efforts. He has announced that tariffs of 10% on those supporting Denmark will begin on February 1, 2026, rising to 25% by June if no deal is reached to purchase or cede Greenland for reasons of America’s “national security.”

Trump frames this as benefiting Canada by countering Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic, but it is nothing less than a thinly veiled land grab. He has also criticized Canada’s defense spending as inadequate, pushing for joint military operations, updated warning systems, and US patrols in Canadian waters—steps that could erode Canadian control over the Northwest Passage, which Canada considers internal territorial waters. American insiders reveal a “secret plot” for larger takeovers, with aides noting Trump’s view that “the status quo is not enough” for Canada’s Arctic capabilities.

Canadian leaders have urged standing up to these threats, warning that if Canada fails to stand up for Greenland today, then can it can’t expect anybody aid Canada when we need it. Trump’s history of threats, including economic force during his first term, makes clear that military options aren’t off the table, though he deems them “highly unlikely. Yet, his invasion of Venezuela shows how quickly rhetoric can be turned into reality.

Canadians need to realize that this nation’s territory and sovereignty are now under threat from the United States—the world’s biggest economic and military power. As Carney noted in his speech, our geography and alliances no longer guarantee security. We face an era of economic and political instability, with the world’s three major powers vying for dominance.

However, in light of developments over the past year since Trump returned to the White House, the greatest threat to world peace today is not China or Russia, whose aggressions are predictable and often contained. It’s the United States, whose erratic, unilateral actions—fuelled by Trump’s irrationality and demagoguery—undermine the very alliances that once restrained such powers. In some very disturbing ways the US has become a modern-day incarnation of Nazi Germany, not through ideology alone but through its expansionist impulses, disregard for borders and international law, and willingness to coerce or invade other weaker nations under pretexts of security or access to resources.

To survive, Canada must heed Carney’s call for “values-based realism.” We need to depend on alliances with nations that share our commitments to sovereignty, international law, and sustainable development—partners like the European Union, with whom we’ve deepened strategic ties, or emerging coalitions in Asia and Latin America. Carney’s government has already pivoted by cutting taxes to boost the domestic economy, doubling defence spending by 2030, and signing trade agreements with China, Qatar, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. We are championing multilateral initiatives, like bridging the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the EU to create a 1.5-billion-person trading bloc, and forming buyer’s clubs for critical minerals to reduce dependence on any single power.

But policy alone isn’t enough. Canadians also must rise up to express our outrage and opposition to this American betrayal. Protests, boycotts, and public campaigns can signal our refusal to “go along to get along.” As Havel taught, one act of truth can crack the illusion. By naming the US as the dangerous adversary it has become, we reclaim our power and invite other middle powers to join us in building a new order—one free from the fortresses of isolation and the coercion of hegemonic powers.

The old world order is gone, as Carney said. Nostalgia won’t save us. But honesty and strength at home, and collective action abroad can forge a better future. For Canada, that starts with turning our backs on a former ally turned enemy, and facing the world with open eyes and unyielding resolve.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.