Maverick Returns: What Trump 2.0 Means For The World

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Trump largely believes that 'throwing money at the problem' is the answer to solving conflict in the Middle East

2024-11-08T21:55:00+05:00 Tariq Aqil

Former President Donald Trump achieved a thumping victory in the 2024 Presidential elections, defeating Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party by a wide margin to become the 47th President of the USA. Donald trump managed to win 295 electoral votes and 73,541,319 or 50.91% of the popular votes, whereas Kamala Harris could manage 226 of the electoral votes and 68,713,751 or 47.57% of the popular votes. Trump’s victory is the most momentous comeback in the history of the USA, because now he will have massive power and a huge mandate to run the country according to his plans and vision. But this unexpected election victory has sent huge shock waves around the world.

Four years after leaving Washington as a pariah, following his attempt to overturn the 2020 election to stay in office, Trump’s victory defied two assassination attempts, two presidential impeachments, his criminal conviction and many other criminal charges. This is a bleak and frightening moment for the US and the world at large. In this election, the American voters had the chance to elect the first black female president on her campaign promises of a better future or to choose a racist, misogynist, twice impeached convicted felon who happens to be a renowned political maverick with a shady past in business dealings, who never held a political office before becoming the 45th President in 2016 by defeating Hilary Clinton of the Democratic party.

The die is cast the voters have spoken: Trump’s victory is now a reality that cannot be denied. He is now the legally and constitutionally elected president of the United States with a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the political history of the US, only one president has previously won two non-consecutive terms. In 2021, Trump seemed to have lost his position in his own party but now his share of the votes has increased all over the country and he will enter the Oval Office with greater confidence and a firm belief in his own invincibility.

The beauty of a democratic system is that the choice of the voters must be respected no matter what. But the Trump victory may not augur well for the USA and the world at large. This time he has control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. He is on the right side of the Supreme Court and the powerful military establishment, in tandem with the military industrial complex. His victory speech was more in the style of a royal court and not a democratically elected chief executive – with Elon Musk as the new American oligarch. Trump is now well placed to pardon all the 6th January rioters in Washington DC, or to roll back the controversial LGBTQ rights. His hatred of the immigrants is well known and now he could get tough on the immigration issue and start mass deportation of all illegal aliens in the US.

Donald Trump has an intense liking for Narendra Modi of India and in his second term he will probably move closer to India, with greater collaboration in technology, defence and trade

Trump will now impose tough tariffs on all imports to boost economic activity, and punitive tariffs of over 60% on all Chinese goods cannot be ruled out. That could result in a trade war and an increase in the prices of essential goods in the US.

In the area of foreign policy he has promised to stop wars and to keep the US out of any future conflict. One area of concern is the Ukraine war, where the Kyiv government could be coerced to sign a one-sided peace deal with Russia. The other hotspot in the world is the ongoing Palestine- Israel conflict, where there is jubilation on the Trump victory as the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is a very close friend of Donald Trump.

Allied nations of the United States are now worried that Trump’s pledge to withdraw from climate accords and bolster fossil fuels will result in the end of all hopes of keeping global warming below 1.5C.

Donald Trump has an intense liking for Narendra Modi of India and in his second term he will probably move closer to India, with greater collaboration in technology, defence and trade. During his first term in 2018, he had initiated a trade war with China at a time when countries all over the world were standing in line to become part of the Chinese One Belt One Road plan. He also engaged two of the world’s most diplomatically isolated leaders, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

In his second term, he has promised to implement an even more aggressive version of “America First” – including a severe protectionist economic agenda that will raise tariffs to higher levels not seen since the great economic depression of the 1930s. “Turbulence between the US and China is going to be one of the stories to watch, and of course, this could have ripple effects for the wider region and wider regional China-linked supply chains,” Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Al Jazeera. Trump’s second term in office will result in movement away from value-based diplomacy or collaborating with allied countries holding similar values in struggles with China and Russia, and towards a unilateral pursuit of exclusive interests of the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu once described Donald Trump as “the best friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.” During his first term, Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and this move was denounced by not only Palestinian leaders but also international law experts. He also recognized Israel’s claim to the occupied area of Golan Heights in Syria. Trump also has the dubious distinction of brokering the so-called Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that strengthened diplomatic and economic relations between Israel and some Arab countries in the region.

Nancy Okail, president and CEO of the Centre for International Policy think tank, says that Trump largely believes that “throwing money at the problem” is the answer to solving conflict in the Middle East. But contrary to Trump’s claims that he would bring calm to the region if re-elected, critics say his “arms for peace” framework has been a failure – as evidenced by Israel’s devastating military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, which have pushed the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.

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