President Trump’s view of America and its place as a country in the world order of nations, may be different than most other world leaders. His “America’s first” motto does not necessarily resonate well with some Americans, as well as most citizens from other countries in the world. The America first agenda portrays an image that most Americans feel superior to anyone else in the world and their quest for a better life is enhanced only by financial gain, which in turn is interpreted as greed by others in the world.
Compassion is not a part of President Trump’s vocabulary. Thus, the “ugly American” image remains the predominant belief accepted by most foreign citizens throughout the world.
Sixty years ago, to portray America as a benevolent nation to the rest of the world, the lawmakers in Congress decided to share some of America’s wealth with the poorer countries in the world. They authorized the formation of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Its main purpose is to give humanitarian aid in the form of food, medical supplies, general health care, etc. Worldwide, the agency employs approximately 10,000 people, comparable in number to the size of the Pentagon.
Presidential adviser and billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE committee have recommended closing USAID to save government spending and save taxpayer dollars. Without hesitation, President Trump pronounced its eventual closure by signing an executive order in which it states, “No new federal civilian positions can be created and no vacant position filled.” Thus, drastically crippling aid efforts to the poor throughout the world.
At the USAID office in Washington, D.C., the employees were told by a security guard that the office was no longer conducting business and to go home. Of course, according to the Constitution, President Trump legally cannot do this without Congress passing a law amending the closure of the agency. But working within the parameters of the law is not Trump’s mode of operandi, even though he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.
If you can follow the number of Trump’s dismantling efforts to reduce the size and functions of government institutions, you are a well-informed citizen and worthy of praise. To the average working American, who is too busy trying to earn a living to follow the day-to-day workings of his image of what America should be, I am sure he and his billionaire friends are counting on that ignorance to result in their financial gain.
Many Americans in today’s world are best described by using a metaphor. “A frog is in a pot of water and the flame beneath it is slowly raising the temperature to boiling. The frog adapts to the changing water temperature until it is too late, and he dies.”
Is that the path that most Americans want by accepting what Trump says and is doing to our democracy? Government for the people and by the people does not seem to be in Trump’s agenda.
John White
Midway