Donald Trump: A cancer upon the world that needs to be dealt with

It wouldn't be shocking to say that many global leaders hope that nature takes it course and Trump succumbs to age or a health issue that removes him from office and this world permanently.  

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

Donald Trump is a walking catastrophe of a human being, a man so devoid of basic decency, empathy, or any shred of genuine humanity that his very existence feels like an insult to the human species. In essence, he is a cancer upon the world.

This is not hyperbole. It is the cold, observable truth about a narcissistic sociopath, a man-child whose every action radiates selfishness, megalomania, cruelty, and a chilling indifference to the suffering his words and actions leave in his wake. He doesn’t care about how his behaviour harms people—never has, never will.

To Trump, human beings are props to be used for his personal benefit, or obstacles to be overcome in the endless melodrama of his own ego. The pain and suffering, the death, the economic ruin, and the democratic erosion he has caused aren’t unfortunate side effects, they are foreseeable results that any truly intelligent person with an ounce of humanity could predict. But, ultimately, to him they are irrelevant, because nothing registers on his brain unless it flatters him and boosts his ego, or threatens his fragile, bloated self-image.

Look at the Middle East right now, teetering on the edge of a catastrophic war that could claim millions of lives. Before February 28 there was a tense peace among the nations of the region and oil was flowing freely through the Strait of Hormuz. But Trump’s reckless actions, launching an illegal and unprovoked war against Iran, in conjunction with Israel, his political posturing, his genocidal rhetoric, and his dangerous game of brinkmanship—culminating in a blockade of the Strait—are shoving the region toward chaos, and could drag in other nations affected by the crisis his actions have created. Oil flows have been disrupted, global supply chains strangled, and innocent people killed by American and Israeli attacks—all because of one man’s irrational, impulsive bullying style of “diplomacy”, and because his fragile ego demands attention.

Trump doesn’t lose sleep over the mothers burying children killed by US bombs, refugees fleeing US-Israeli attacks, or people being unable to afford food. Why would he? Compassion isn’t part of his emotional vocabulary. He’s too busy smirking in front of cameras, turning foreign policy into a reality TV spectacle, while real human lives are upended. His lack of humanity and his embrace of what can only be termed evil aren’t flaws he tries to hide, it’s who he is to the core. He revels in strength as a form of domination, never as a way to protect the vulnerable or uplift the weak. The suffering of innocents? Mere collateral damage in his quest for personal victory at all costs.

And then there is the economy. Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop antics are barrelling the world towards a global recession, stoking inflation, and will push interest rates higher with every chaotic tweet and every effort to make the Iranians succumb to his unconditional demands. Families worldwide are already feeling the squeeze—sky high gas prices, higher food prices, layoffs as businesses try to cut rising costs, and plans for the future put on hold due to uncertainty. Yet he charges ahead, indifferent to how his actions sow chaos and misery in the lives of ordinary people. This is the same man who, in his first term as president, displayed a chilling indifference to the fragile interconnectedness of our world, deliberately weaponizing personal vendettas against his political enemies in ways that left a trail of devastation among the vulnerable—both at home and abroad.

Trump doesn’t care about the single mother struggling to feed her kids because grocery costs spiked. He doesn’t care about the factory worker whose livelihood vanishes in a trade war he started. To him, humanity and compassion are not virtues but fatal weaknesses—signs of inferiority to be exploited and crushed. Those who dare display empathy deserve nothing less than public humiliation, served up like sacrificial lambs to feed his endless hunger for dominance. He mocks the merciful, belittles the decent, and gazes upon them with the cold contempt of a tyrant surveying peasants, reminding us all that in his dark vision of America, kindness is treason and strength means only the ruthless exercise of raw power.

The world is utterly sick of Donald Trump. From European capitals to Asian financial hubs, from Latin American streets to African villages feeling the indirect shocks of his actions, people watch the circus he has created with a mixture of horror and exhaustion. His antics aren’t just embarrassing anymore, they are dangerous. A superpower led by a man with the emotional maturity of a spoiled toddler, armed with nuclear codes and the world’s largest military, is a recipe for global instability and disarray far beyond what we are already enduring.

It would not be shocking to say that many global leaders secretly hope that nature takes it course and Trump succumbs to age or a health issue that removes him from office and this world permanently. They likely hope that this exhausting chapter in world history ends before the damage Trump has inflicted becomes irreversible. And they are likely joined by tens of millions around the world who feel similarly. It’s safe to say these would be the sentiments of people who are exhausted, who see one man-child holding the planet hostage, and who can’t wait until the Trumpian nightmare ends.

Americans who still possess a conscience—those who didn’t vote for him and those who now regret their vote—must confront the ugly reality. Under Trump, there is no politics as usual. What America faces is the outcome of a collective insanity, which has been building for years, that placed in the presidency a man who is dismantling their democracy brick by brick, while torching the world order that preserved a fragile global peace for eighty years. His pathological personality, serial lying, bombast, and dangerous rhetoric are not mere quirks. They are weaponized personality disorders that are laying waste to the very foundations of the imperfect civil society built from the ashes of World War Two.

This is a man who lies every time his lips move because truth threatens his fragile ego. Fact-checkers have tallied thousands of lies whenever he has spoken publicly or posted on social media, yet he doubles down with that signature smirk, daring anyone to call him out. His amorality is disgusting and dangerous. He praises dictators, cozies up to authoritarians, and treats democratic norms like inconvenient suggestions. Ethics? Accountability? According to Trump these are for suckers. He operates on pure transactional self-interest, where loyalty is demanded, and betrayal is met with venomous rage.

The truth is that the world is utterly sick of Donald Trump’s face, his grating voice, and that perpetual, menacing sneer that drips with entitlement and barely concealed insecurity. This is a man who has openly mocked the disabled, ridiculed war heroes, and degraded women through vulgar, boastful tirades that expose a vicious misogyny and a self-loathing he projects onto the entire world. His racism and bigotry are no longer whispered dog whistles but brazen, inflammatory rallying cries that deliberately summon humanity’s darkest tribal impulses. Trump channels a chilling, Hitlerian vision of dominance—a “fourth Reich” fantasy in which a white supremacist-tinged America demands global submission to him and his cabal of billionaire sycophants, who feed their insatiable greed and lust for unchecked power. He surrounds himself with loyal enablers who eagerly amplify his hatred, mainstream conspiracy theories, and display open contempt for every democratic institution that dares restrain his authoritarian ambitions. How can any decent person witness this rising threat without feeling a profound and urgent sense of revulsion?

Democracy in the US is itself under threat because to Trump, it’s not a sacred system of checks, balances, and peaceful transitions. It is a tool to be bent or broken when it doesn’t deliver what he craves. His actions are not just unravelling American democracy, but also the fragile post-World War Two order, pushing alliances to the brink of fracture, and inviting adversaries to exploit the global divisions he is creating.

The 33% of eligible American voters who knowingly returned Donald Trump to power—fully aware of the Access Hollywood tape, the endless scandals, the racial incitement, and his pathological lying—bear a heavy responsibility. The MAGA crowd decided that character didn’t matter, that racism, misogyny, and raw amorality were acceptable in a leader rather than disqualifiers. Their blind loyalty has created a frightening cult of personality that prizes grievance over governance and spectacle over substance, normalizing the abnormal, and handing the nation’s steering wheel to a drunk driver.

Americans who care about their nation—truly care, beyond partisan tribalism—must come together now to halt this madman before he destroys what’s left of their democracy, not to mention, the impact that unravelling of the US will have globally. It falls to them to rise above the noise and chaos that Trump peddles, and demand better. This isn’t about right versus left, it’s about sanity versus insanity, humanity versus nihilism.

The people of the US must unite across divides—progressives, moderates, conservatives who still believe in democracy and principles over personality. They must organize, vote, speak out, hold the people who enable Trump accountable. They must pressure Republican congressional representatives and senators to prioritize country over cult, lest the nation that is celebrating the 250th anniversary of its founding this year, comes apart at the seams. The world cannot afford three more years of the global danger Trump represents. His actions don’t just damage America, they endanger the entire world by amplifying irrationality and instability.

Donald Trump doesn’t represent America’s best. He enables its worst. He must be rejected, constrained, and if possible arrested, tried and convicted, if Americans are to reclaim the democracy he treats as his personal playground. Before it’s too late, before the pain spreads further, before the world pays an even steeper price, for one man’s profound lack of soul and dearth of humanity.

This maniac must be stopped. Americans who love their nation more than they fear discomfort must act decisively. The suffering Trump has caused and could yet unleash demands nothing less.

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

PITY THE NATION

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

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.

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.

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.

How did the US become a nation that Is embracing fascism?

Nine months into Trump’s second presidential term fascism is no longer an imagined threat, it is real and it poses a legitimate threat to American democracy. 

By Fareed Khan

A version of this article can be found on Substack.

On November 4, 2025, America delivered a thunderous rebuke to Donald Trump’s second presidency. In New York City, Zohran Mamdani—a 34-year-old Ugandan-born, South Asian, Muslim democratic socialist—shattered a political dynasty by defeating former governor and primary challenger Andrew Cuomo to become the city’s first Muslim mayor. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey voters elected Democratic Congressional Representative Mikie Sherrill governor by a double-digit margin, extending Democratic control of the governor’s mansion for an unprecedented third consecutive term. In Virginia, former Representative Abigail Spanberger became the state’s first female governor, while state Senator Ghazala Hashmi won the lieutenant governor’s race, becoming the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office anywhere in the United States.

These were not routine off-year elections. They were political earthquakes. Turnout in New York City shattered records not seen since 1969, with more than two million ballots cast. The common denominator in every decisive victory was American president Donald Trump—though his name appeared on no ballot. Voters, especially in diverse urban and suburban strongholds, sent an unmistakable message—we reject the cruelty, the racism, and the authoritarian drift that has defined his second term.

Yet the question remains, searing and urgent. How did the United States—a nation that once styled itself as a “beacon of democracy”—become a country that is now embracing fascism, an ideology that more than 400,000 American military personnel died fighting in World War Two? The answer is not a mystery. It is the oldest story that the US has never told with honesty. The most powerful nation in the history of the world was not founded on freedom. It was founded on stolen land, cleared by indigenous genocide, and built by African slaves, who were broken by force. Everything else is decoration.

Let’s start at the beginning. Long before the first enslaved Africans arrived in North America, European settlers embraced the doctrine that the indigenous people of what became the United State were an inferior race. “Our nation was born in genocide,” Martin Luther King Jr. observed in 1963, “when it embraced the doctrine that the Indian . . . was an inferior race.” The Declaration of Independence itself denounces “the merciless Indian Savages,” codifying racial hierarchy in the nation’s founding text. Settlers did not merely conquer Native Americans as they expanded into the interior of the continent, they exterminated them with the help of the US government. By 1900, the pre-Columbian Indigenous population in the contiguous US had plummeted by 96%, from millions to fewer than 250,000. The survivors were herded onto reservations—America’s first concentration camps—with their movements and every aspect of their lives controlled by the government.

Slavery followed the same logic. The US Constitution’s three-fifths clause, its fugitive slave provision, and its extension of the slave trade enshrined white supremacy into the nation’s legal DNA. When the Confederacy lost the Civil War, no one thought that it would win the peace. Reconstruction’s promise of multiracial democracy was drowned in blood with 2,000 Black people lynched in the decade after the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox. Black Codes morphed into Jim Crow laws, and the Supreme Court blessed the concept of “separate but equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson.

The monuments to the Civil War and Confederate generals told the story. They were not erected in the years immediately after 1865 to mourn the fallen. They rose in the first two decades of the 20th Century and then again, in subsequent decades and between 1954 and 1968, precisely when the white supremacist elites and the racist infrastructure they had built felt threatened. The United Daughters of the Confederacy erected more than 400 statues, each one a warning that Black advancement in the US will be met with terror. When Brown v. Board of Education struck down school segregation in 1954, legislatures in the US south answered with massive resistance and a fresh wave of Confederate memorials. The message was the same—this is white man’s country and Black Americans shouldn’t expect to be part of top tiers of society or expect to achieve the “American dream.”

The truth is that the racist foundation of American society never crumbled after the Civil War. They remained intact and those who benefitted from it adapted. The racists became sheriffs, mayors, governors and senators, and the logic of white supremacy changed shape but never lost its grip. Mass incarceration of Blacks replaced slavery on plantations. The war on drugs replaced the Ku Klux Klan’s targeting of Black people. And economic policies and local ordinances that kept Black Americans from achieving their full potential, replaced Jim Crow laws. The result has been that by 2025, the United States imprisons more people than any nation in history, who are disproportionately Black and racialized.

Enter Donald Trump into the political arena in 2015. He did not invent American fascism or racism, but he did use the foundations that had been laid by others to advance his agenda. And he was unapologetic about saying the unspeakable out loud. When he began his presidential campaign he called Mexican immigrants “rapists”. In 2017 he equated neo-Nazis with counter-protesters, saying there were “good people” on both sides during the white supremacist Charlottesville protests. In 2024 he vowed “retribution” against political enemies if he became president, even suggesting he would use the military. His former chief of staff, John Kelly—a former Marine four-star general—called out Trump’s policies as fascist during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying that he would rule like a fascist if re-elected. Thirteen other former Trump officials signed an open letter backing Kelley’s criticism of Trump.

Nine months into Trump’s second presidential term fascism is no longer an imagined threat, it is real and it poses a legitimate threat to American democracy. In his first 100 days, Trump invoked emergency powers to impose tariffs on every nation on earth, citing “fentanyl” and “trade deficits” as pretexts. Average taxes on imports soared to 18 percent—higher than any time since the Great Depression. Car prices jumped $4,700 overnight; grocery staples followed. Economists warned of a “fiscal folly” that would shrink GDP by 1.3 percent and cost the average American household $1,200 annually. Yet the administration celebrates the billions flowing into federal coffers, money that will likely be used to fund suppression of constitutional rights and civil liberties.

Speaking of suppression, it’s already spreading across the US in the form of crackdowns on illegal immigrants and anti-genocide protesters. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have become Trump’s Gestapo, disappearing hundreds of undocumented immigrants and legal protesters, sending some to a jungle jail in El Salvador, while threatening to deport others for their Palestinian activism to nations like Rwanda. Trump has also threatened to strip birthright citizenship by fiat and has declared transgender identities “invalid.” Additionally, billions in federal funding has been withheld from universities that refuse to purge diversity, equity and inclusion programs from their curriculum, and banned-word lists have circulated in government agencies, with threats of firing if they are included in government websites and documents. The Justice Department has also deployed election monitors to Democratic Party strongholds, citing unproven election fraud.

This is textbook fascism. A cult of the leader, a mythology of national humiliation, a promise of rebirth through violence and purity. Trump’s rhetoric—threats to annex Canada, seize Greenland, retake the Panama Canal, suspend the Constitution—echoes Benito Mussolini’s imperial fantasies. Trump’s allies speak openly of a third presidential term in violation of the 22nd amendment, martial law, and the suspension of elections. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump’s favour that presidents enjoy broad criminal immunity for actions taken in office, has emboldened him further.

Yet Tuesday’s elections prove the rot is not total. In city halls and statehouses, the victories show that a multiracial, multi-faith coalition of people from all socio-economic backgrounds can push back against fascist elements in the US. Mamdani quoted American socialist Eugene Debs in his victory speech. Spanberger pledged to shield Virginia from federal overreach. Sherrill vowed to “solve problems, not manage them.” While Hashmi promised leadership that “lifts people up.”

These victories are not the end, they are the beginning of new movement, because fascism advances when good people normalize the unthinkable. Germany did not fall to the Nazis in a single night. It fell in a thousand small surrenders over a period of years, and the US stands at the same precipice now. To prevent what happened to German from taking hold in the US, Americans must follow Germany’s post-World War Two example. It must enshrine in public memory the racist and genocidal history of the US, and implement laws that make it unrepeatable. It must criminalize racist and fascist symbols like the Confederate flag, which must be banned from public spaces. The true history of American history must be taught in every classroom. In addition, the debt owed to Indigenous nations and descendants of the enslaved must be paid, because reparations are key to healing the national soul.

The voters in the 2025 off-year election have shown the path. They looked into the abyss and said, “Not here. Not now. Not ever.” The question is whether a majority of Americans are willing to follow, or whether they will let the euphoria of a decisive victory fade and then go back to business as usual. American must realize that they are running out of time as the fascist menace grows, but Tuesday proved that change is possible.

The future of the US is in the hands of those who are willing to do as Mamdani and his followers did, and push back against the establishment. They have already told them their time is over, and it’s time for a new generation of progressives and social democrats to lead the way. If America is to be saved from those who have brought the country to the precipice those who rallied to support progressive and left wing candidates like Mamdani need to organize and launch a national movement led by people like the new mayor of New York City and others who share his vision of what could be achieved if they commit to political change.

© 2025 The View From Here. © 2025 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.