I don’t know if you’ve had this feeling lately that something is genuinely flawed in the United States and how Trump is running it?

For Europe, of course, the talk of the future role of the US in NATO (do they even plan for there to be one?), treating the ICC as some kind of criminal organization (yes, the same ICC that prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression) and Trump’s obsession with Greenland are red flags. For the rest of the world, I guess Canada, Mexico, Panama, tariffs, illegal deportations of… well… non-citizens (?) etc., would also qualify.

All this has mostly been explained away as Trump being Trump, and wait for the checks and balances to kick in before you panic… (Tell that to the illegally deported non-citizens…)

Well, to be honest. The political opposition to Trump seems rather impotent right now.

With the exception of Sanders, AOC and assorted YouTube channels, who is opposing this? Who is opposing it enough to get noticed by international media?

I couldn’t tell you.

The feeling I have, though, is that Trump, as president has too much power, in fact, is abusing his power to the max.

This sense appears to be shared by others. Vox writes about some rather alarming shortcomings of US democracy.

In short, they notice that the tariffs is a case when the executive branch does legislation.

Most definitions of a democracy include a term called separation of power:

“separation of powers, division of the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of government among separate and independent bodies. Such a separation, it has been argued, limits the possibility of arbitrary excesses by government, since the sanction of all three branches is required for the making, executing, and administering of laws.”
/ Encyclopedia Britannica

I.e. Trump overreaches when he starts doing legislation (tariffs), and anybody who cannot see “arbitrary excesses by government” in the Trump administration might need to push their MAGA-hat back a bit…

So, what is supposed to prevent this overreach?

Not a republican congress or senate. Especially not with every republican in the US either being a MAGA-fanboy or hiding under their desk. Trump obviously does what he sees fit without any pushback from the senate or congress.

But there are supposed to be more checks and balances than that, right?

Like “the Office of Legal Counsel” and “the Council of Economic Advisers” (by no means full of MAGA in this day and age) as well as the Justice Department itself…

Even more hilarious, there are informal checks and balances like the president’s “fear of losing the war for public opinion” or his “own moral code”.

And, of course, if you can afford it, sue.

This isn’t how a democracy is supposed to work.

But then again, the US isn’t ranked pretty high in democracy rankings:

• Ranked 46 of 154 by The Global State of Democracy Initiative
• Ranked 28 of 167 by The Economist Democracy Index, that also classifies the US as a “Flawed Democracy”, so does Visual Capitalist

To me, the notion that the leader of the executive branch would go crazy with executive orders left, right and center is rather foreign. But maybe I live in a very secluded part of the world… who knows what happens down on the continent, right?

I’ve now aged quite a bit and the wisdom I’ve gained is that the US president is in fact an elected dictator that is free to do whatever he wants, commit any crime without punishment and while Americans seems to think the world begins and ends with America, this maniac in the White House does cause havoc in the rest of the world as well.

What are we supposed to do? Trade with China?

I guess we could trade with Africa. It is, after all, both a nearby continent and one with enormous potential. Yeah! Let’s do business with Africa instead of America.

Also, I think someone in Greenland should arrange America safaris: Above all, do not leave your armored vehicle while out on the streets!