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.
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