The Don of Disorder And His Merchant of Chaos

Depending on which side of the bed he gets up, US President Donald trump, armed with unlimited power, decides which part of the world he has to spark disorder. His friend, guide, millionaire and a satellite of Trump, Elon Musk, known for his rockets, wakes up and thinks  on whom to fire. Every day, Trump shatters previous understandings of the presidency and America’s role in the world; Musk, on the other hand, is an internal combustion engine ready to roll over established institutions. Trump and his merchant of chaos Elon Musk are pummeling Federal agencies, targeting bureaucrats, clawing back spending approved by Congress, buckling the world order and busting trade pacts. Trump has not spared India and has threatened to fire the tariff missile on New Delhi. He considers Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his close friend. But when it comes to taxes and tariffs, there is no ‘thareef’. During his recent meeting with Trump, Modi reportedly told him that taxing India would be unfair and dent its fragile economy. Though he did not say ‘get lost’ in as many words to Modi, the US President told the Indian PM bluntly that the word he should clearly listen to coming from Washington is ‘reciprocal tariff.’ “You tax me and I will tax you,” he reportedly told Modi.He also humiliated India by sending undocumented Indians in chains and  putting their photo on social media, despite protests from New Delhi. IN his rush to wield vast power and fulfill campaign promises, the new commander in chief is also straining the rule of law and gambling with global stability. He wants to annex Canada as his 51st state and has already started calling the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as his ‘governor’. Then, thinking that nations can be bought as groceries items, he wants to buy Greenland, take over Gaza and the Panama Canal. He also wants to take over Washington DC and the state of Colombia as the US capital is shabby, full of tents of the homeless and a haven to drug addicts And he wouldn’t mind annexing Mexico or bring the district of California under federal rule. If not on a buying spree, Trump is now trying to broker a deal with his one- time enemy Vladmir Putin, the new Czar of Russia, on ending the war in Ukraine. But  in the process, he has elbowed out Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, keeping the nation in the dark. This move has upset NATO which has been guarding Ukraine. The real motive is not peace in Ukraine, but its vast mineral sources which he and Putin want to share. No conventional commander in chief would suggest making support for a fellow democracy like Ukraine, which was invaded totalitarian Russia, condition nal on Kyiv handing over rare earth minerals as payment. And no modern president ever threatened to annex America’s friend, Canada. Th e next move of Trump would be a deal with China – a country he has been hammering on the tariff issue. Taiwan could be forced to consider its political future as President Trump turns against Ukraine and abandons Western eff orts to punish Russia. Ukraine and Taiwan share a kinship: small democracies laid claim to by hulking,  uthoritarian neighbours. President Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president, has already been trying to prevent any serious breach with Trump. He recently a nounced that the country would increase military spending. He also said the island — which has more semiconductor fabrication plants than any other place in the World — would come up with proposals in response to Trump’s demand that more such plants be built in the US. As China continues to send fi ght er jets and warships nearly every day to probe Taiwan’s defenses, the island’s ability to deter a potential attack hinges on whether the US stands ready to help and even send forces. Trump doesn’t appear to have a strong commitment to Taiwanese democracy. Some fear he might put Taiwan’s interests at risk if he negotiates a big trade deal with Beijing. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has told Trump that Taiwan is a key concern in their relationship. Before his second term began, it was assumed that a president wouldn’t simply refuse to spend billions of dollars already authorized by Congress and deploy a private citizen, like Elon Musk, to Obliterate huge government agencies enshrined in US law. Firing government workers, shutting down institutions and cutting aid to organisations like WHO has become a hobby for Musk who loves to make the lives of government servants miserable. No other president hatched a plan to force Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt and Jordan — a step that could threaten the Camp David accord, fracture the Hashemite Kingdom and eff actively amount to ethnic cleansing. And a nation that became the most powerful in history y by building a global system in its democratic, capitalist image was hardly likely to assault the free trade system with tariff s or loosen curbs on bribery in foreign business dealings. Trump has done all this and more, as he sits at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, dispensing power with his Sharpie, making up foreign policy off the cuff — at the risk of igniting constitutional crises at home and turmoil abroad. Th e president’s ability to follow through on these policies, and more, will defi ne his second presidency. His success also has the capacity to transform the office  he now holds and reshape a global order that has prevailed since the end of World War I Trump, the virtuoso of disruption, is unapologetic as he argues he’s simply doing what the country wants. “I have high approval ratings because I’m using common sense,” says Trump. He is presenting his extraordinary claims of vast presidential power as him just exercising a mandate to take a sledgehammer to government and turn the tables on a planet he says ripped off the United States for generations. The White House claims huge wins in forcing Western Hem sphere countries to take back undocumented migrants, in getting a better deal for US ships in the Panama Canal, in forcing Canada and Mexico to strengthen border security and getting Hamas hostages free in Gaza. Some of these victories are real, in part; exaggerated; or illusory. But Trump say’s it’s the start of his new “Golden Age.” But Trump’s crazy start of his presidency — groin  out of his need to always project strength and his sense he was spared from a would-be assassin’s bullet to save America – comes with huge risks for the US political system. Th ese fears were sent into overdrive by Vice President JD Vance’s X post that appeared to raise the possibility that the White House would refuse to accept court rulings on its most controversial programmes. “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance said. Th e former Ohio senator’s comments refl ected this young White House’s tendency to simply decree the legality of presidential action and disregard other branches of government. Domestically, Trump  is posing threats to the rule of law on multiple fronts. And only weeks into  is term, many legal analysts believe that the country is heading to an  unprecedented constitutional crisis. A month into Donald Trump’s first term, the president’s then-political sage Steve Bannon coined a doctrine  o explain the conservative wrecking ball now demolishing the US  government: “the deconstruction of the administrative state.” It took eight years, but the theory is becoming reality, and could portend a fateful reshaping of American governance under a mighty presidency that was never envisaged by the founders

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