The list of countries and international institutions the new U.S. president and his cabinet have affronted in just three weeks ― China, Germany, Mexico, Australia, France, Iran, the United Nations, the European Union and others ― should indicate how far this administration is willing to go in talking tough with the rest of the world. In response, the world should now get tough with America, and let it know that the global majority will no longer be pushed around.
The protests in London Monday against the British government’s decision to offer U.S. President Donald Trump a full state visit should put the U.S. “on notice” that people around the world are not going to stand by and allow their governments to give America a free pass despite its unacceptable actions. Governments around the world should be emboldened and no longer fearful of standing up to America ― unlike the U.K. government, which has once again ignored the voice of the people (remember Iraq war).
Despite the talk about America’s soft power, it has acted more like a bully in the international arena. Trump is simply the most recent and overt face of that. Do not forget that his immediate Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, with great arrogance and ignorance, unleashed a catastrophe in the Middle East. The 2003 invasion of Iraq continues to destabilize the region almost 14 years later.
This bullying is a natural byproduct of American politics. Trump’s Republican colleagues acted little better during the campaign or during confirmation hearings for his nominees. Senator Ted Cruz, during the primaries, talked about bombing the so-called Islamic State “back to the Stone Age,” despite the potential for collateral damage to innocent people. Nor is this purely an issue with Republicans. Even former President Barack Obama, a decent man who could view America’s experience with a measure of humility, still launched a destabilizing intervention in Libya, tacitly supported a bloody Saudi intervention in Yemen and relied on a program of targeted drone strikes around the world ― a program now in Trump’s hands.