US President Donald Trump makes a special address remotely during the 55th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23, 2025. [Yves Herman/Reuters]
In the early years of the century, when neoconservatism peaked, the United States was set on imposing “regime change” on distant, hostile countries. The idea was to turn corrupt, nepotistic dictatorships into client states that – thanks to democracy and free markets – would look like America. The Iraq invasion in 2003 was to be the first step towards building a stable, “manageable” Middle East. We saw how that went. A quarter of a century later, it is the United States which faces “regime change,” with the swift deconstruction of the state, with the undermining of the rule of law and customs which were considered a beacon for the rest of the world, and a blueprint for a new world order.
Donald Trump’s second presidential term signals the decisive retreat from the principles of liberal democracy and a return to the “big man” politics which were the historical norm and which prevailed in the countries that America intended to change. Trump’s first term, his Project 2025, his speeches and his actions this week confirm that he intends to shape America as he wishes, on the basis of his personal interests and his beliefs and obsessions.
In addition, various billionaire “friends” and relatives, extreme-right “ideologues” and people in the shadows promote their own interests. Trump is a nationalist and populist; above all, though, he is a monarchist, seeing himself as the expression of the state. As president, Trump wields unprecedented, inconceivable power, domestically and abroad. He controls the judiciary, he has scrapped all controls over his actions, he undermines citizens’ equality, and equality before the law, he curbs the press through fear, lies and lawsuits, he targets the “stranger,” the “other” and experts, so as to mobilize his supporters against any opponent.
It is a tragic irony that we are seeing a repetition of the basic error made by those who believed that adopting “democracy” is all it takes to establish a humane society. Democracy is not just elections (which, too, have been undermined by Trump), but the institutions and the people who serve them, and the values expressed by leaders. Democracy without justice and common decency is just a nice name granting legitimacy to a regime that benefits the few at the expense of the many. And that’s where the new president might be leading America.