There have been other times where America has chosen a performer to lead the country. That performer knew he did not know the first thing about governing a country, so he surrounded himself with a team of competent advisors that steered his administration for the next 8 years, an administration that greatly changed the world.
Today, another performer is in charge of America. At an uncertain time, this performer, instead of acknowledging that he does not know the first thing about governing, has pitched the idea that he and he alone can rule America, and run it “like a business.”
Going by the track record of his other occasions where he was leading a business, his “style” of governance is pernicious: In fact, he has presided over six bankruptcies, one fraud conviction on a pyramid scheme thinly disguised as a university, and possesses the unenbiable a track record of surrounding himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to know.
Such is the current head of the American government: someone concerns only with himself, who has no empathy for any one who is not himself, and who sees a transaction in everything.
On top of that, the party supporting the current head of the American government seems to have lost all will to show any kind of internal criticism or dissent towards the “man in charge.”
Both the man and the party are guilty of hubris; the man in particular is also guilty of pride, and the party that supports him, of cowardice.
Such are the leaders that America, once the greatest country, has to offer as its public face to the world.
It is an unmitigated disgrace.
Not only do the actions of the current head of the American government reflect upon his (lack of) knowledge about the world at large, but also they reflect something more worrying, which should give everyone pause in dealing with the United States moving forward.
The head of the US government is weak.
The callous cruelty which he has displayed in dismissing thousands of employees, turning his back on long-date allies, reneging trade agreements which he himself signed 8 years ago, as well as other shows of cruelty towards any one who does not fit in his world view expose a person with deep-rooted insecurities, a lack of moral character, a complete lack of empathy and, most importantly, show a dangerous unsoundness of the mind: The current head of the US government is a psychopath.
It is another unmitigated disgrace.
The world does not deserve it. We, of the world at large, refuse to call a weak, cruel, mentally ill person the “leader of the free world.”
And, most importantly, those of us who, having appreciated all that the United States has contributed to the world at large, see that country now led by, essentially, a band of unqualified thugs, put there by their savvy exploitation of fears, prejudices and resentments — long present in American society — we say, “Actions have consequences. You chose this path. You now get to pay the consequences of your actions.”
Expect the same degree of empathy and support that you offered to women when you took away their right to care for their own bodies; the same understanding you showed when you banned people coming from “certain Muslim-majority countries” from entering the United States; the same human kindness you showed to the thousands of families you separated at your southern border: None.
The trust reserve that the United States had with the world is now empty. Moving forward, the United States will be regarded as an unreliable partner — and the world will treat it in consequence.