American voters tend be pretty parochial in their approach to elections, focusing on domestic issues above all. I’m not sure if enough of them are fully aware of the stakes in this presidential election. The choice between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump is a referendum not only on America’s future but also on the entire world’s.
Sign up for Shifts, an illustrated newsletter series about the future of work
The United States remains by far by the most powerful country in the world: It spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined, and its economic output accounts for roughly one-quarter of the global total. What America does matters. A lot.
In the 1930s, the United States pursued a policy of protectionism and isolationism. No coincidence, World War II soon followed. Germany’s and Japan’s neighbors were too weak to deter and defeat those fascist dictatorships on their own. They desperately needed American help, and they did not receive it until it was nearly too late.
After 1945 in the United States, the greatest generation sought to rectify that mistake by constructing a new world order based on free-trade pacts and security alliances. That approach was staggeringly successful: Democracy and prosperity spread around the world. Great power conflict has been averted. The United States has been the biggest beneficiary among major nations of the international system that it created along with its allies: U.S. gross domestic product per capita in 2023 was $73,600, compared with just $39,800 for Russia and $22,100 for China.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c_magnet-op2024elections_inline_collection_20
Now those historic achievements are imperiled by the possibility that Trump could return to office and implement “America First” policies reminiscent of the 1930s. Only if Harris wins is the United States likely to continue pursuing the policies that have undergirded its prosperity and security since 1945.
Follow Max Boot
It is, of course, impossible to predict the exact course of a second Trump administration because Trump is so erratic and illogical — and so easily influenced by anyone who stokes his insatiable ego. As he ages, the 78-year-old real estate promoter appears even more disconnected from reality. That, in itself, is of great concern, since the world relies on steady U.S. leadership, and that could be replaced by chaos and confusion in a Trump White House. But on certain issues Trump has been all too clear about his intentions.
He intends, for one, to hike tariffs dramatically — by 20 percent, at least, and probably far more — to the highest levels since the 1930s. “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff.’ And it’s my favorite,” Trump said on last week. An invincible economic ignoramus, he continues to insist U.S. consumers would not pay the tariffs — but they would. The cost of the tariffs would further increase when other nations imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports. “We’d be facing higher interest rates, slower growth, higher inflation,” a financial analyst told The Post. We’d also be facing a world in which the United States is locked in trade wars with its closest allies.
Those divisions would be exacerbated if Trump pursues the security policies he has hinted at. Trump has said he told allies he would encourage the Russians to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that didn’t pay enough for defense. “The odds that he will withdraw from NATO are very high,” warned John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.
Bob Woodward’s new book reports that Trump, since leaving office, has had as many as seven conversations with Vladimir Putin and that he sent the Russian dictator coronavirus-testing equipment when it was in critically short supply. The Kremlin has already confirmed the coronavirus tests, and Trump did not exactly deny his calls with Putin when asked about them. The exact nature of Trump’s relationship with Putin remains mysterious, despite years of investigations, but it is evident that the former — and possibly future — U.S. president has a nauseating affinity for the Kremlin despot.
very well might.
Sign up for Shifts, an illustrated newsletter series about the future of work
The United States remains by far by the most powerful country in the world: It spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined, and its economic output accounts for roughly one-quarter of the global total. What America does matters. A lot.
In the 1930s, the United States pursued a policy of protectionism and isolationism. No coincidence, World War II soon followed. Germany’s and Japan’s neighbors were too weak to deter and defeat those fascist dictatorships on their own. They desperately needed American help, and they did not receive it until it was nearly too late.
After 1945 in the United States, the greatest generation sought to rectify that mistake by constructing a new world order based on free-trade pacts and security alliances. That approach was staggeringly successful: Democracy and prosperity spread around the world. Great power conflict has been averted. The United States has been the biggest beneficiary among major nations of the international system that it created along with its allies: U.S. gross domestic product per capita in 2023 was $73,600, compared with just $39,800 for Russia and $22,100 for China.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c_magnet-op2024elections_inline_collection_20
Now those historic achievements are imperiled by the possibility that Trump could return to office and implement “America First” policies reminiscent of the 1930s. Only if Harris wins is the United States likely to continue pursuing the policies that have undergirded its prosperity and security since 1945.
Follow Max Boot
It is, of course, impossible to predict the exact course of a second Trump administration because Trump is so erratic and illogical — and so easily influenced by anyone who stokes his insatiable ego. As he ages, the 78-year-old real estate promoter appears even more disconnected from reality. That, in itself, is of great concern, since the world relies on steady U.S. leadership, and that could be replaced by chaos and confusion in a Trump White House. But on certain issues Trump has been all too clear about his intentions.
He intends, for one, to hike tariffs dramatically — by 20 percent, at least, and probably far more — to the highest levels since the 1930s. “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff.’ And it’s my favorite,” Trump said on last week. An invincible economic ignoramus, he continues to insist U.S. consumers would not pay the tariffs — but they would. The cost of the tariffs would further increase when other nations imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports. “We’d be facing higher interest rates, slower growth, higher inflation,” a financial analyst told The Post. We’d also be facing a world in which the United States is locked in trade wars with its closest allies.
Those divisions would be exacerbated if Trump pursues the security policies he has hinted at. Trump has said he told allies he would encourage the Russians to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that didn’t pay enough for defense. “The odds that he will withdraw from NATO are very high,” warned John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.
Bob Woodward’s new book reports that Trump, since leaving office, has had as many as seven conversations with Vladimir Putin and that he sent the Russian dictator coronavirus-testing equipment when it was in critically short supply. The Kremlin has already confirmed the coronavirus tests, and Trump did not exactly deny his calls with Putin when asked about them. The exact nature of Trump’s relationship with Putin remains mysterious, despite years of investigations, but it is evident that the former — and possibly future — U.S. president has a nauseating affinity for the Kremlin despot.
very well might.
