America
Descends into Authoritarian Nihilism
The USA, under Donald Trump, is no longer a liberal
state and the champion of free world. Trump
puts the clock back. His MAGA project and the policy of ‘America First’, and the
unilateral erratic decisions that disrupt world order, are going to isolate and
weaken America.
Trump took the oath as the 47th President
of America for a second term. Excerpts from his inaugural address: “For American citizens, January 20,
2025, is Liberation Day. It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be
remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of
our country. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will
begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to
the places from which they came. America will reclaim its rightful place
as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the
awe and admiration of the entire world.”
He signed 89 executive orders in a short span that will have far
reaching consequences, not just for America but the world as well. Some of the
most controversial orders are: Withdrawing the United States from the WHO, Withdrawal
from the Paris Agreement, Establishing the President’s Department of Government
Efficiency, Ending Birthright Citizenship, Strict Enforcement of Immigration
Laws, Cutting Off Foreign Aid, and Pardons Related to January 6 riots. Trump made
the contentious statements that America would take over Panama Cannel and Greenland
and make Canada 51st state of the US, and that there would be reciprocal trade
tariffs. These announcements made the world leaders worried about the emerging
new America posing threat to international peace and security.
Trump picked up his trusted loyalists and appointed them to important
positions in his administration. He demands absolute personal loyalty, not
professional norms. He made Elon Musk - the richest man in the world who made a
huge contribution to his election campaign - Head of the newly created
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In the name of efficiency and the
cost cutting, the DOGE is arbitrarily terminating thousands of employees
working for the Federal government, creating resentment and backlash across
America, though some Federal judges are ordering their reinstatement. A Judge
observed: “It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employees
and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie.”.
On March 13, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle seven federal
agencies, including the Voice of America. In addition to Voice of America, the
Agency for Global Media funds Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free
Asia. The organisation, with a budget of roughly 270 million dollars and more
than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages, with a weekly audience of
more than 361 million people. The Trump administration is finalising a
three-level restriction that would curtail entry in the Unites States by
citizens from 43 countries, that is. the ‘red list’ of 11 countries, the
’orange list’ of 10 countries, and the ‘yellow list’ of 22 countries. These are
very drastic changes that will alter the landscape of America.
What we witness in America is backsliding of democracy. The universities
are targeted to curb dissent and free speech. More than 50 universities are
investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to
end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)programmes that the officials claim
exclude white and Asian American students. The Education Department warned
schools and colleges that they would lose federal government grants over alleged
“race-based preference” in admission, scholarships or any aspect of student
life. The universities are protesting against the scrapping of the DEI and
denying the educational opportunities to the blacks and the under privileged. The
visas of international students critical of Trump are being revoked and the
students deported. There are more than a million foreign students studying in
the US, paying high tuition fees than local students, and losing them would
mean many colleges and universities going out of business
Incidentally, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar in his article Anti-DEI
Trump may fuel rise in hate speech here in Sunday Times of India, March
16,2025, says that the “rising hate speech in India is going to be amplified multifold
by the abandonment of DEI norms in the US.” Earlier, under Joe Biden, social
media platforms were under pressure to check hate speech. Fact checking had
become integral to their operations. Now Trump has issued directives against
DEI and called Biden’s regulations on hate speech “censorship”. The social
media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X(Twitter) are delighted that
they are no longer required to weed out hate speech. No guarantee applies to
crowdsourcing, which are a form of majoritarianism.
The Washington-based research group India Hate Lab’s recent report
reveals that hate speech against minorities in India shot up by 74% in 2024,
from 668 incidents to 1,165 (over three per day); UP (242), Maharashtra (210),
and MP (98) ranked top among the states for hate speech events. These three
states, where BJP and its allies rule, collectively accounted for 47% of the
total hate speech events in 2024. And “with the new mood in the US and end of
supposed censorship by social media, hate speech in India looks set to get
worse.”
According to Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary, “Trump does not see
India as a big power in the same league as China and Russia.” He is cosying up with the two authoritarian dictaroships once considered irreconcilable adversaries. “It is not eccentricity alone which
explains Trump’s sense of affinity with Valdmir Putin of Russia and Xi Jingling
of China. His readiness to do deals with them is the consequence of ideological
affinity…the US, Russia and China are great powers by virtue of being the
largest countries area-wise.”
Trump does not consider Modi as his equal, though public posturing is
that they are friends. This was evident from the manner in which he treated Modi
when he visited White House on 13 February. Trump openly talked about
reciprocal trade tariff in his presence at the media conference. And the manner
in which he deported the Indian illegal immigrants’ hand-cuffed and chained in
military planes, is a humiliating and discriminatory treatment by all accounts.
Modi doesn’t protest. On 9 March, speaking at the Oval Office, Trump boasted:
“India charges us massive tariffs, massive you can’t even sell anything in
India ...it is restrictive. They have agreed by the way. They want to cut
their tariffs way down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what
they have done.” India should be careful
in dealing with Trump, should not be seen being used as a pawn in the power
game.
Modi is not strong in dealing with China either. His soft peddling with
China is obvious when he says, “that being neighbours, difference and
disagreement between India and China are natural, just like in a family.” This is in spite of the fact that China
continues to occupy Indian territory in Ladakh, build huge military camps and infrastructure
all along the boarders across the LAC, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh. The
display of bonhomie between the two countries is a camouflage. The Chinese
Ambassador to India Xu Feihong says that “on April 1, China and India will
commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations ...the two
countries will achieve a dragon-elephant tango through mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual trust, mutual accommodation and mutual accomplishment.”
These were the principles of Panchsheel Agreement that Chow En Lai signed with
Pandit Nehru in 1954, repeatedly violated by China. And China is still not
willing to restore status quo ante 2020 in Galwan Valley, while it has the
audacity of giving lecture on ‘mutual trust’ and ‘mutual accommodation’.
India should be assertive and conduct its foreign relations from a
vantage position. India is a great ancient civilisation that should not be subdued. It is important to recall that when Indira
Gandhi visited America in 1971 to garner support against the genocide in
Bangladesh that driven out some 10 million people seeking refuge in India, President
Nixon and his NSA Henry Kissinger threatened to retaliate if India intervened in
internal affairs of Pakistan. The Iron Lady of India ignored the threat, displayed
indomitable courage and despatched the Indian army to Dacca to liberate Bangladesh,
securing India the greatest military victory in her history, despite the fact
the American 7th Fleet with nuclear warheads was stationed in the
Bay of Bengal.
Trump is trying to enforce ceasefire in Israeli-Gaza conflict and Russian-Ukraine
war. Having armed Israel to the teeth and ensured total destruction of Gaza
Strip, reducing it a rubble inhabitable, he now wants to take over Gaza asking its
2 million people to leave their homeland and settle in other countries. The
genocide that Israel carried in Gaza is a crime against humanity, and it should
be held accountable. Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. It wants ceasefire
on its terms. It captured large swaths of Ukrainian territory and wants the international
community to recognise these territories as its own. And Trump is acquiescing. Russia
had earlier annexed Crimea, Abkhansai and South Ossetia. There can never be
lasting peace if terms of peace are dictated. The nations must learn from history. Nazism and Hitler were the products of the harsh terms imposed on
Germany by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to end the World War I, that eventually
led to the World War II.
The USA is in turmoil. Pratap Bhanu Mehta says, ‘America is at a risk of descending into authoritarian nihilism.’ What is nihilism? In his lecture on ‘German Nihilism’, delivered in 1941 Professor Leo Strauss, defined “nihilism as the rejection of the principles of civilization... the destruction of everything, a desire to destroy the present world ... a desire not accompanied by any clear conception of what one wants to put in its place.” This is what Trumpism is about.
Raphael Glucksmann, a French politician, a member
of the European Parliament, has called for the return of the Statue of Liberty,
criticising the US under Trump for abandoning its democratic values it once represented. Speaking at his party’s Place Publique
convention on 18 March 2025, he criticised America’s shift in global stance. He argues the Statue of Liberty no longer
represents America. The Statue
of Liberty,given by France in 1886 as a symbol of shared democratic values,is
now seen by Glucksmann as misaligned with present-day American policies:"We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the
tyrants,to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific
freedom:'Give us back the Statue of Liberty’. We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it.”
What a historical coincidence that the two largest democracies - India and America - are being governed by the two powerful ambitious politicians – Narendra Modi and Donal Trump- the autocrats who pursue divisive political agenda to capture power, leaving behind the liberal democratic tradition of 75 and 250 years of their countries respectively. Both of them were elected by the people, just as Hitler. These two great countries had the fortune of having benevolent enlightened leaders and visionary statesmen - Abraham Lincoln and Jawaharlal Nehru- who unified their countries, vastly diverse, and laid a strong foundation for liberal democracy. Yet, the rise of far-right Modi and Trump in India and America is a reminder that democracy is fragile even in these countries, and not safe and secure in the world. And we should have wisdom to realise that without democracy and social and economic justice the world can never have lasting peace and security.
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