Donald Trump is holding the world hostage.
True to his erratic nature, the US president has toyed with the global trading regimen like a yo-yo.
We are captive, to one degree or another, to Trump’s trigger-happy whims that – beyond the costs to balance sheets, jobs, retirement savings, and wallets – have exacted a heavy toll on our weary psyches.
His omnipotence overwhelms, leaving most of us feeling bereft and pining for a moment’s reprieve from the incessant chaos.
Last week, Trump confirmed, yet again, his talent for self-preservation without a speck of regret for the trauma and uncertainty he has caused.
In the face of disquieting polls, roiling equity markets, a sell-off of US Treasuries, and a brewing backlash within the Republican caucus and among the oligarchs who championed his presidency, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to announce a sudden reversal of the central aspect of what he considers to be a considered “economic policy” – blanket and hefty tariffs.
Reportedly, Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill were caught unawares by the president’s change of bulldozing course and left wondering what the captor-in-chief would do next.
One by one, the supposed “checks and balances” have, on the shameful whole, capitulated or, worse, enabled Trump’s imperious modus operandi.
In this broader context, Trump’s qualified and likely temporary tariff amnesty is not deemed a “defeat” or a “retreat” by the lord of Mar-a-Lago. It is part of his larger, ever-evolving “master strategy” to resuscitate America’s bygone manufacturing prowess.
To his legion of admirers and supporters, Trump is a mythical, infallible figure who spurns doubt since it is a symptom of weakness.
For Trump, certitude is a virtue. Posing questions and introspection are for sissies, not strongmen who have been tasked with rehabilitating America’s waning “greatness”.
Trump has the answers because he is the answer.
While others may scoff at his evangelical “conversion”, I am convinced that after dodging an assassin’s bullet, Trump had a transformative epiphany that reshaped his presidency into a messianic mission.
In a little-noticed section of his meandering address to a joint session of Congress in early March, Trump gave pointed expression to his belief that he had been saved by divine intervention in order to, in turn, save America.
“I believe my life was saved … for a very good reason,” Trump said. “I was saved by God to make America great again. I believe that.”
I am loath to disappoint, but this may be the rare occasion when Trump is telling the truth.
Though Trump’s latest prescriptions to “make America great again” have gone spectacularly awry, his critics are deluding themselves if they think that the “market mayhem” or a few fretting billionaire-bros will prompt him to abandon his chosen destiny and just cause.
Unlike Democrat US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), Trump confuses obstinacy with wisdom.
FDR braved calamity – financial collapse, sweeping poverty and despair, and the gathering advance of fascism overseas. He was obliged, to borrow a phrase, to make America great again.
During a speech delivered in May 1932, FDR addressed Americans’ anxiety – an unease that mirrors, almost to the letter, the angst felt by many of their descendants nearly a century later in the wake of the current jarring and potentially persistent financial turmoil.
“With these savings has gone, among millions of our fellow citizens, that sense of security to which they have rightly felt they are entitled in a land abundantly endowed with natural resources and with productive facilities to convert them into the necessities of life for all of our population,” Roosevelt said. “More calamitous still, there has vanished with the expectation of future security the certainty of today’s bread and clothing.”
FDR’s solutions were borne out of experimentation, not dogma.
“The country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something,” Roosevelt said.
FDR’s approach not only meant leveraging the means, resources, and ingenuity of the federal government to revive America, but the willingness of the commander-in-chief to dispense with orthodoxy and the arrogance of strutting firmness.
His legacy was not just the singular length of his revolutionary presidency – it was the good and fruitful sense to admit that failure is inevitable.
The other implicit meaning of FDR’s admonition is that even presidents can learn valuable lessons from making mistakes.
The experience and insight derived from “screwing up” can solve other troubles – big and small, near and far – that occur throughout a presidency.
Roosevelt listened. He learned by encouraging dissent. He wanted to be challenged. He knew that the people around him enjoyed expertise that he lacked. He understood that presidents are not all-knowing, that exercising his weighty responsibilities required, on occasion, a measure of humility.
Trump prefers dictates over debate. He demands and values absolute loyalty over discourse and objection. He is driven by instinct and seething grievances, not patience and deliberation.
In any working democracy, serious initiatives are the product of serious scrutiny. Trump is all performance, all the time. He rejects outright the essential qualities that informed Roosevelt’s shrewdness: Perspective and pragmatism.
The striking irony is that Trump hopes to mimic FDR by extending, albeit illegally, his presidency into a third term – if his health and popularity hold up.
The predictable consequence? Trump will never admit failure. To do so would involve Trump the invincible acknowledging that he has been or could be wrong.
That, as we know, has not happened and will not happen.
To his acolytes, Trump’s unwavering certainty is bewitching. His mad careening is celebrated as a calculated tactic. Amid these unsettling and turbulent times, the illusion of a leader who claims to be faultless may be comforting. Still, it remains a mirage.
The price of Trump’s signature recalcitrance will surge in the days, weeks and months ahead. Stock markets will gyrate wildly, once sturdy alliances will continue to unravel, public confidence will fray. And through the rocky tumult, Donald Trump will remain sure that he is right.
That is what makes America’s reckless president so dangerous.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
