Bulwark: The American Age is over

[New Breed Leader]

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-american-age-is-over


1. Canada
Fittingly, it was the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, who declared the official time of death.

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The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday. The system of global trade anchored on the United States, that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War—a system that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades—is over.

Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over.

The eighty-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership—when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, and championed the free and open exchange of good and services—is over.

While this is a tragedy, it is also the new reality.

And just like that, the age of American empire, the great Pax Americana, ended.
We cannot overstate what has just happened. It took just 71 days for Donald Trump to wreck the American economy, mortally wound NATO, and destroy the American-led world order.

He did this with the enthusiastic support of the entire Republican party and conservative movement.

He did it with the support of a plurality of American voters.

He did not hide his intentions. He campaigned on them. He made them the central thrust of his election. He told Americans that he would betray our allies and give up our leadership position in the world.

There are only three possible explanations as to why Americans voted for this man:

they wanted what he promised;

they didn’t believe what he promised; or

they didn’t understand what he promised.

Pick whichever rationale you want, because it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason was, it exposed half of the electorate—the 77 million people who voted for Trump—as either fundamentally unserious, decadent, or weak.

And no empire can survive the degeneration of its people.
2. No Going Back
Understand this: There is no going back.

If, tomorrow, Donald Trump revoked his entire regime of tariffs, it would not matter. It might temporarily delay some economic pain, but the rest of the world now understands that it must move forward without America.

If, tomorrow, Donald Trump abandoned his quest to annex Greenland and committed himself to the defense of Ukraine and the perpetuation of NATO, it would not matter. The free world now understands that its long-term security plans must be made with the understanding that America is a potential adversary, not an ally.

This realization may be painful for Americans. But we should know that the rest of the world understands us more clearly than we understand ourselves.

Vladimir Putin bet his life that American voters would be weak and decadent enough to return Donald Trump to the presidency. He was right.

Europeans are moving ahead with their own security plans because they realize, as a French minister put it, “We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every four years.” He was right.

The Canadian prime minister declared the age of American leadership over. He was right.

Instead of arguing with this reality, or denying it, we should face it.

It’s bad enough being a failing empire. Let’s not also be a delusional failing empire. Let’s at least have some dignity about our situation.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Carney is an Economics Ph.D. w broad international experience. He knows what he is talking about. . . . nt

[Irish_Dem]

2. Excellent article. Must read. The US is no longer a world leader.

It can never come back from Trump.

[Justice matters.]

3. Again, Putin's wet dream.

Krasnov's mission accomplished.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Putin destroyed the US without firing a shot.

[Justice matters.]

6. Yep. Only by bailing out a criminal fraudster...

with only a few billions under-the-table personal loan, to be recalled only if he fails at betraying the US.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Sad, but fundamentally true...nt

[StarryNite]

7. From the pen of a 9 or 10 year old Canadian student...

“I dream of a safe, a kind, and a clean Canada. A Canada that is not the U.S."

We have truly lived down to the name "Ugly Americans". I am so ashamed of what the orange felon has done to us.

[keep_left]

8. Jimmy Carter warned us about taking this path back in 1979...

...which turned out to be a pivotal year not only for the US, but also for world history.

Carter's national address occurred on July 15, 1979; the title was "A Crisis of Confidence". In recent years, the speech has undergone a great deal of reevaluation, and it is now seen as a prophetic warning about many of the nation's destructive tendencies and social pathologies.

https://democraticunderground.com/100220086417#post3

The national address was immediately maligned as the "malaise speech" (though that word appears nowhere in its text). The early neocon movement in particular savaged Carter over his honest and mature look into the less admirable traits of Americans, not to mention his call for more careful stewardship of natural resources and the environment. ( I recall Noam Chomsky going after the neocons at the time; to paraphrase: "they would rather risk nuclear war than put on a sweater!" ).

The speech can be viewed and downloaded at the following link.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090721024329/http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3402

Historian Morris Berman on the speech: https://democraticunderground.com/100217661780#post38

More on "A Crisis of Confidence": https://democraticunderground.com/100217660503#post1