Posted on 03/31/2025 2:03:02 PM PDT by Olog-hai
US President Donald Trump has shown a callous disregard for the checks and balances that have long protected American democracy. As the self-described ‘king’ makes a momentous power grab, much of the world watches anxiously, aware that his administration’s growing illegality and corruption is eroding not only the US Constitution but what remains of the post-1945 international order. A return to great-power spheres of interest looks increasingly likely.
But foreign governments, businesses and civil-society groups have more power than they think in the face of a revisionist United States. They can take five steps to create external checks and balances on the Trump administration and on anti-democratic forces more broadly. Anti-democratic forces around the world cast a long shadow, but with a boost of courage and the strength of solidarity, pro-democracy coalitions can come together to fight for the light.
The first step is to unite and make as much noise as possible. Would-be autocrats depend on divide-and-rule tactics, maximizing fear by convincing individuals and governments that they alone are on the chopping block. Imagine if all governments in the Americas (with a few exceptions, such as Argentina) denounced Trump’s designs on the Panama Canal and Canada, loudly and repeatedly, and refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Indeed, they could collectively rename it the Gulf of the Americas. […]
The second step is to push back hard on Trump’s provocations, escalating to absurdity. If the US raises tariffs from 100 percent to 200 percent, governments should announce that they are raising them to 400 percent. This is a game of chicken, not a negotiation. The US may be the world’s largest economy, with a GDP of nearly US$28 trillion, but the combined economies of the EU member states, Britain, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Australia are 25 percent larger, totalling nearly US$35 trillion. Instead of coming to the White House with hat in hand and flattery at the ready, hoping to get an exemption from the coming trade wars, world leaders would be better off presenting a united front.
Third, use law to counter Trump’s lawlessness. The rule of law is not simply a code of conduct approved by duly constituted authorities. It is an entire system designed to channel dispute away from the battlefield and into the courts, to replace armed combat with legal jousting before an impartial referee. To the extent that the Trump administration ignores or rejects national and international law, foreign governments, businesses and civil-society groups should use their own courts to make their case and enforce their rights. […]
The fourth step other countries must take is to create a thriving domestic tech sector. This requires time, but few things are more important over the longer term. Governments and citizens should have options other than US or Chinese tech, particularly in the AI phase of the digital revolution. Moreover, as the EU well knows, competing with the existing tech giants requires the removal of trade barriers and the integration of capital markets, both important steps toward enhancing regional power on the global stage.
Lastly, the Trump administration has made clear its disdain for multilateral institutions, having rejected the UN’s sustainable development goals and questioning whether UN agencies’ projects ‘reinforce US sovereignty by limiting reliance on international organizations or global governance structures.’ Other countries—especially rising middle powers—should seize this moment to take over these institutions and make them their own. It is time, for example, to give up on the UN Security Council. …
Isn’t it amazing how much hostility is unleashed when the USA ends subsidized defence and one-sided trade deals for these parasitic “Allies”.
MYOB Aussie beotch
Also reveals how many countries have been infected by the poison of Marxism.
Another know-nothing moron.
“Keep in check” is code for “Keep on plundering”
This is what happens when the over educated lose their lucrative positions “managing” USAID funded NGOs.
The US trade deficit must be reduced.
American cities must be reinvigorated.
Foreigners can’t take over the jobs Americans need.
There was four years under Biden to fix the problems.
Now it’s Trump’s turn at bat.
First counterintelligence operation against a presidential campaign in American history.
Impeached for a phone call in which there were transcripts based on the word of someone who heard about the phone call second hand.
Impeached when no longer in office again based on laughable charges.
Quite open lawfare against a major candidate for the first time in American history.
Efforts to keep him off the ballot in multiple states for the first time in American history.
More district court issued nationwide injunctions than any president in American history and that's just in his first 2 months in office.
And she wants to claim HE's the one violating the norms and the checks and balances? What a joke.
I should add.....honey, when you run a massive trade surplus, you are going to lose any game of chicken you try to play. Say both of you raise your tariffs to the stratosphere. Who loses more? The one who is running the massive surplus is going to lose more. Duh. That’s you.
-PJ
Poor thing doesn’t understand — this is so much bigger than President Trump. This is a revolution, much like the Revolutionary War for this nation.
But, that’s what dubious people who do understand are so afraid of.
Checks and Balances equals USAID payments.
The world wants their mordida.
She continues to misspell “Idiocracy”.
Foreign companies that want a share of the US market have an easy out: invest in the US and produce here.
Excellent rundown of the absurdities against Trump.
ROFL, as a member of the Commonwealth, I can say we are the last ones to lecture on freedom. Our Prime Minister’s have untold of power compared to POTUS. And our checks on their power is very limited. Our FBI, the RCMP operates with pretty much no checks whatsoever, and engages in gun grabbing operations.
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