After the extended initial shock from the American president’s bullying and outrageous behavior, it’s time for all interested parties—especially European governments, whose response directly concerns us—to look beyond the obvious traits of an arrogant man with no boundaries: Trump has a plan far more dangerous than when his predecessors imposed banana republics through coups.
This is neither unprecedented nor original, as Gandhi described it back in 1926 (in his article “Non Violence – The Greatest Force”): He argued that economic warfare is no better than armed conflict—it’s prolonged torture whose devastation is no less terrifying than what we typically call “war.” Zelensky has already gotten a bitter taste and will be forced to swallow the entire “dish” of what Naomi Klein describes as “disaster capitalism complex” (in her book “The Shock Doctrine”).
The political and economic system we call capitalism has mutated and metastasised everywhere, infiltrating our lives unchecked. Trump’s ruthless blackmail toward everyone may likely boomerang against his own country, as the “tariff war” is already increasing inflation and prices domestically, hurting the stock market, devaluing the dollar, and putting farmers, importers, and exporters in difficult positions.
In the US, everyone watches awkwardly without organised resistance; the Democrats have disappeared. Although the president’s popularity is somewhat declining, it seems this theater of the absurd about MAGA, the American dream, and national pride has its audience—appealing to the little Hitler hiding in everyone.
After all, Trump’s aggressive foreign policy (toward Canada, Mexico, Greenland, the Panama Canal, China, EU) disturbingly resembles Hitler’s “Living Space,” the Nazi ideological principle of “Der Lebensraum,” which he used as justification to expand into neighboring territories.
Europeans have proven incapable of assessing the situation and developing an effective response plan. They could, for example, adopt a Trump-like plan for joint exploitation of Ukraine’s mineral wealth and propose it to the shocked Zelensky, in exchange for securing the country against Russian aggression. After all, “money exists,” as George Papandreou would say: The €800 billion package announced by von der Leyen for independent European defense could also fund a common reconstruction fund for the country, once everyone (including Ukrainians) forgets about the now-dead NATO. The EU could potentially approach China, which is desperately seeking economic allies, and even propose commercial alternatives to Putin in exchange for ending the war, since the Russian economy isn’t at its best because of it.
Europeans should also not fall so easily into Trump’s blackmail trap. They should have realised by now that he throws outrageous threats to intimidate his opponents, which he later moderates so they feel relieved and grateful because he supposedly “backed down.”
As Bloomberg Economics writes, these are matters that change depending on the concessions made. Trump’s personality may include many repulsive elements—often you want to vomit watching and listening to him—but he is also a ruthless businessman; for him, everyone and everything is for sale or purchase. When he operates this way, you can’t confront him politically.
Once there were uprisings against authoritarian governments and dictators. The problem is that governments have essentially ceased to exist—we’re now governed by corporations and tycoons. How do you revolt against businesses? Power today is an abstract concept depicted in corporate logos represented by humanoids.
And now for the first time, we’re seeing them in the spotlight…
