'Trump can only make America great again by war and aggression'

The only way for US President-elect Donald Trump to “make America great again” is to either accept the United States’ “place within the emerging multipower world or impose its will by war and aggression, according to Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

“How is one to evaluate the outgoing Obama administration and the incoming Trump administration when it comes to their leadership of the so-called ‘free world?’” asked Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.

“Some like UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage say the US has become much weaker under President Barack Obama and lost its global standing in an unprecedented manner,” he told Press TV on Tuesday.

“Trump in his typical huckster fashion has called Obama’s domestic and foreign policies ‘stupid,’ and chastised Obama as ‘the most ignorant president,’ who ‘didn't know anything’ upon taking office in 2008 and ‘today, he knows less.’ This assessment goes well with Trump's mantra of ‘Make America great again,’” he stated. “But is such a harsh verdict justified and what exactly does American strength or weakness entail?”

British politician Farage said on Monday that the US became “a lot” weaker under the leadership of Obama. Farage took aim at the outgoing American president’s legacy in an interview with Fox News on Monday, saying Obama had weakened the United States’ global standing in an unprecedented manner.

“I think America these days, I’m sorry to say, looks a lot weaker than it has done for a very long time,” said Farage, who is a close friend of President-elect Donald Trump.

US imperialism fails to maintain its unipolar moment

Professor Etler said, “On the world stage the US seems weaker today than when Obama took power.”

“This however is the culmination of decades of neo-conservative/neo-liberal stewardship of US foreign policy based on ‘making the world safe for democracy’ by using military intervention to overthrow governments antithetical to US interests and by fomenting regime change by ‘color revolutions’ designed to install US lackeys in power,” he explained.

“These policies have led to the destruction of one nation after another in the Middle East and North Africa. Color revolutions have been attempted elsewhere as well from Europe, to Asia and the Americas. These US/NATO policies have resulted in failed states in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and sub-Saharan regions of Africa and an unstoppable influx of millions of war tossed refugees inundating Europe. All this is an indictment not only of Obama but the whole post Cold War neo-con/neo-liberal imperialist enterprise that attempted to impose US hegemony throughout the world,” the analyst explained.

“US imperialism however, in the face of a revitalized Russia and a rising China, has failed to maintain and sustain its unipolar moment. Due to the exposure of its crimes against humanity US imperialism has generated an immense amount of anger and blow back.”

Heyday of Anglo-American imperialism over

“For those like Farage and Trump who are nostalgic for the time when Anglo-American imperialism was in its heyday the neo-con/neo-liberal strategy has been an abject failure that needs to be replaced by reinvigorated, strong leadership that will make Britain and the US ‘great again,’” Professor Etler said.

“This is to be accomplished by licking the wounds of economic stagnation and political dysfunction at home while practicing brinkmanship and gunboat diplomacy abroad. Strong leadership according to Farage and Trump is the practice of geo-political arm-twisting and intimidation. The forces behind Trump no longer see the utility of ‘humanitarian intervention’ or the protection of ‘human rights’ as excuses to impose US hegemony,” he stated.

“Trump is more interested in the bald exercise of political, economic and military power. In order to do so however will require the re-industrialization and re-militarization of the US, which is Trump's prescription for ‘making America great again,’” the commentator said.  

“But will Trump's strategy succeed in projecting US power and influence as in the past? Will his call for strong leadership and ‘peace through strength’ make America great again?” he asked.  

“Unfortunately for the future of US global hegemony the Chinese train has already left the station and Russia and the rest of the world wants to hitch a ride. The only way for Trump to succeed is to either accept America's place within the emerging multipower world or impose its will by war and aggression,” the scholar concluded. 

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