Do it yourself

“Make America Great Again” (MAGA), campaign of President Trump has been one of the most successful political campaigns of recent times. The campaign won Mr. Trump and his Republican Party (GoP), a clear control of the white house, the Senate and the Congress.

From the campaign material available publicly, it is not clear what is the reference point for President Trump’s MAGA pledge. The campaign did not seem to have specified when did the greatness of the US begin to diminish and how much of the global stature, it supposedly enjoyed at some point in history, has been lost. For the lack of adequate information, it is safe to assume that the campaign of Mr. Trump, referred to the term of his predecessor, Joe Biden (2021-2025), as period of decline of America, and intends to revert to the status quo ante as on 19^th January 2021, when he vacated the White house after a four-year stay, and carry forward the unfinished agenda from his first presidential term.

A review of Agenda:47 (Trump’s campaign for the election of 47^th president of the United States), highlights that MAGA plan of Mr. Trump involves the following five key agenda points:

(i)    Reverting to pre-WW1 policy of isolationism (no interference in the affairs of the foreign countries where the US interests are not directly affected), strengthening the military, building a missile defense shield for the US, de-pledging from the NATO and UN, etc.;

(ii)   Assuming full control of government by eliminating agencies, departments, posts that can challenge the POTUS, using military for eliminating internal threats, and enhancing the powers of POTUS;

(iii)  Limiting immigration into the US to the qualified professionals who can contribute positively to the growth of US economy & society, and systematically expelling the foreign nationals who entered the US illegally or are burdening the US economy in any manner;

(iv)  Protecting and advancing traditional (Christian) values by curtailing liberal ideas of diversity, equity, inclusion, radical ideologies (e.g., gender affirmation), dealing strictly with the menace of drugs, etc., and a complete revamp of the education system, especially by dissipating the resources of private universities to fund a sate sponsored American Academy.

(v)   Strengthening the US economy, mainly through – (a) energy dominance by diverting focus from clean energy to the conventional energy and producing more for export; (b) balancing the US federal budget and bring interest rates down; (c) turning current account positive by onshoring manufacturing at a large scale and disincentivizing imports through higher tariffs; (d) making large investments in rebuilding infrastructure; (e) revamping the healthcare system; and (f) reducing tax rates to support household consumption and savings;

This agenda certainly resonated with average Americans households, especially conservative rural folks; financially stressed (and unemployable) urban households and white supremacist. They have been led to believe that immigrants have stolen their jobs; Canadian, Chinese, Mexicans and Indians are responsible for inflation & unemployment in the US; liberals have snatched their conventional parental rights; and the US has been unnecessarily and involuntarily dragged into wars in middle east, east Europe, Afghanistan, Vietnam etc., and withdrawing from these wars will save the US trillions of dollars; climate change is a hoax and they can get their tanks full by paying $6.49, if the US begins to drill gain.

I am not at all competent to comment on the US politics, US economy, and their geopolitical strategies. Nonetheless, I feel that the MAGA agenda of President Trump is nothing but an extension of the nationalist agenda that became popular post global financial crisis and gathered significant momentum post Covid-19 pandemic.

Several countries across the globe have seen ultra nationalist (mostly right wing) political parties gaining power; governments have preferred bilateral trade agreements over multilateral engagements; and major players of WWI and WWII are no longer shying away from expressing territorial and/or economic ambitions. Brexit is one of the examples of isolationist tendencies capturing politicians’ and the common public’s imagination. President Trump may just be following the trend.

In my view, ‘unsustainability’ might be at the core of this tendency. The profligate fiscal and monetary policies followed in the past two decades have definitely resulted in unsustainable consumption patterns and ecological climate damage. Given the massive demographic and economic inequalities, at global level and within countries, it may be almost impossible to find a universally acceptable solution for this unsustainable growth paradigm. Perhaps, therefore, societies are looking inward to set things back on track.

These days, conservation of resources, protection of territories, reversing demographic decline, reducing debt, promoting patriotism & nationalism are some of the popular themes with politicians. They are not hesitant in using religion, traditional & cultural values to emphasize on the necessity of authoritarianism (or a weaker democracy) in pursuing their agenda.

Historically, similar situations have invariably resulted in major conflicts and emergence of a new order. The moot point is whether we have reached the break point yet, or it may take a few more years (or even a couple of decades) of shenanigans to reach there.

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