Is America Pushing Its Self Destruct Button?

When I was eleven, I went trick-or-treating with my friends around the rural village in Ireland I grew up in. I was dressed as Donald Trump, donning a copious amount of fake tan and a wild blonde wig while wielding a toy gun to highlight the absurdity of this man being the most powerful in the Western world. Three months later, my joke became all too real, and Trump was elected to the White House, confirming the fear that it seemed the entire world held – can one man really brainwash an entire nation?

Eight years later, the “greatest country on Earth” has once again placed its trust in a convicted felon and accused rapist to lead them through one of the most volatile periods of history since the Second World War. While over half of the US peer through their red, white and blue tinted glasses at their savior, the rest of the world looks on in incredulous disbelief.

In many parts of the globe, the United States is a cultural phenomenon. People worship its celebrities, brands and supersized commercialism in every corner of the Earth, and yet the face of all this social (never mind political) influence is a man who’s entire career has been punctuated by scandal after scandal.

Every media outburst and ‘X’ post driven by crazed sensationalism further diminishes the nation’s international image, as the “Leader of the Free World” appears to operate under the thumb of highly controversial multi-billionaire Elon Musk. Every decision made and bill passed leads the US further into regress, from banning gender transitions for those under 19 to imposing tariffs on trade from its closest neighbors, Mexico and Canada. Trump’s America is voluntarily falling years behind other global superpowers, all under the illusion of being “a complete restoration” of the country.

The entirety of Europe is dealing with the consequences of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, with millions forced to flee from the senseless destruction of their homeland and find refuge across the continent. Trump’s response to this? Labelling Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, while claiming this was a war that “never would have started” had he been president at the time. These egotistical proclamations seem never-ending, as it appears any semblance of logic shuffled out of the White House with the last pensioner given the keys to the Oval Office.

The latest melodramatic declaration – the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, bears all resemblance of a toddler snatching their favorite toy off another just so they couldn’t have it. This is the utterly childish nature of the man tasked with leading the most prominent country in the modern world.

All international confidence in the integrity and reliability of decision making at the top of the political food chain is gone, and the fallout of this is stark. Tourism, trade and political relations with the US will all suffer as governments and civilians alike view the Western powerhouse with a new degree of wariness.