Probably most people did not come to this conclusion during the past week, but I believe we witnessed confirmation that the World Order has shifted. The balance of power is moving away from Western nations to China, Russia, India, and probably Iran, along with a few tag-alongs.
Just days ago, a summit in China, hosted by President Xi Jinping, included Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. It was intended as a showstopper, to show the rest of the world the strength of their alliance. On the fringes was Kim Jong Un, President of North Korea, and some other smaller nations hanging on to the coattails of the superpowers.
The summit emphasized solidarity and promoted an alternative to U.S. world leadership.
To drive the point home, during the summit, China staged a military parade that made a similar military event in Washington, ordered by President Donald Trump on the 4th of July, look like amateur hour.
All of these leaders have territorial ambitions. Russia wants Ukraine and likely other European countries as well. China wants Taiwan, and India wants total control of Kashmir. Modi keeps one foot in the door with the United States, but with Trump’s imposition of a 50% tariff on goods from India, that relationship is on shaky ground.
Donald Trump may be the right person to address issues in the United States that concern many of its citizens. That is their business.
But Trump’s actions and threats on the world stage have weakened the United States internationally and diminished the strength and reputation of the Western Alliance. That is very much our business. Leaders from countries like China and Russia no longer respect or fear the United States.
Trump got played by Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He listened very nicely and then he went home and did exactly what he wanted to; no ceasefire in Ukraine, increased attacks on Ukraine and threats to Western countries who support Ukraine. Putin effectively thumbed his nose at Donald Trump. Hardly the tone hoped for in Alaska, where Donald Trump came out without a single win.
Donald Trump will try to convince himself and the world that he did win, that China and Russia look up to him because he is, in his own mind, incapable of losing. That is why he “won” the 2020 presidential election. Listen to how he prattles on.
“I was sort of like a hot guy. I was hot as a pistol. I think I was hotter then, than I am now and I became president. Okay – I don’t know. I said to somebody, Was I hotter before or hotter now? I don’t know. “
It’s all about Donald Trump. He is, by all appearances, a megalomaniac in my opinion. He totally believes in himself.
He is extensively renovating the White House at an estimated cost of $200 million to make it suitable for his residency, equal to that of a king. He believes he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, and at the same time, he is changing the Department of Defense into the Department of War.
He wants the Kennedy Center to bear his name where he intends to present himself with its prestigious award that recognizes lifetime achievement in the arts and entertainment fields. It will not surprise me if he wants his face on Mount Rushmore along with some other former presidents.
And now, as the whole Epstein scandal is getting out of control and threatening Trump, his camp is leaking that his real association with Jeffrey Epstein was as an undercover informer for the FBI. Sadly, some people will believe that.
The real problem arises when a megalomaniac gets pushed into a corner, when lies can no longer obscure facts, when blaming others stops working and when reality finally kicks in. There would be no surrender. There is only retribution, chaos and revisionism.
Donald Trump, as President of the United States, has surrounded himself with sycophants. There seem to be few, if any, checks and balances in his administration. He demands blind loyalty above all else.
Cabinet meetings are all about Donald Trump, with its members competing with each other to see who can heap the most praise and adulation on their Dear Leader. The man has an insatiable ego that soaks all of this up. Loyalty trumps (pun intended) reality time after time. It simply recharges his battery.
A criticism often levelled against Donald Trump is that he never served in the armed forces and dodged the draft on a number of occasions. Here is how Vice President J.D. Vance dealt with that in a recent televised interview with Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law.
“It would not have shocked me if I had learned that Donald Trump was in the Marine Corps. Of course, he didn’t serve in the Marines, but he has a Marine Corps style of Leadership.” Music to the ears of Donald Trump, but I wonder what current and former Marines will think about that.
Then there is the issue of Trump’s cohesiveness.
Recently, a reporter asked Trump who he blames for losing India to China. This was his response: “We put a very big and high tariff on India. Then we went to the Rose Garden, and the grass was soaking wet. Ok? But we had a News Conference. Everybody sunk in the grass. You probably sunk in too.”
It would be less alarming if this incoherence was an anomaly coming from Donald Trump. Sadly, it is not.
Put all of this together and ask yourself if this is the kind of individual any other Western country would look upon as the leader of the free world, a claim that the United States has made about itself for decades.
Simply put, since Donald Trump again became President of the United States, that country has lost respect and influence in many parts of the world, solely because of the actions and stated intentions of its president.
As a result, new alliances are being formed and strengthened. Donald Trump may believe that he is still “one of the boys” when it comes to international relationships, but that is not so.
Thanks to Donald Trump, World Order has changed, and the balance of power is shifting away from the free world. We need to take that very seriously.
End of rant.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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You did not rant Hugh. I have been positing very similar thoughts on my FB Journal for years…tonight will be posting Day 1992.. We are not wrong. The US is in a mess and too many citizens just don’t seem to get it. The US is NOT the ‘exceptional’ democracy it claims to be – unless exceptional is now defined negatively. I really don’t think that even if the Democrats succeed in ousting the MAGA crowd that that will not be enough to regain my/our trust. Their two party system and legal system that moves at a snail’s pace, means that the uneducated masses could just as easily turn the whole thing over in the next election cycle. I am cynical and pessimistic. However, I have great respect for Carney and his economic smarts, so I do believe Canada will survive this turbulence stronger in the end.
I thoroughly enjoy your “rants”. They are very informative and dead on!
It is quite scary actually to watch how one man is trying to change the world to suit himself
Thank you for telling it as it is.
I’ve always enjoyed your articles and occasional rants Mr. Mackenzie; however, you have outdone yourself with this one! Looking forward with eager anticipation to your next essay.