Trump Wants To Bully The World, The State Of American Soft Power Puts It All At Risk
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heading to Panama and other Latin American countries as his first diplomatic mission tells us that the US has blinked. The threat of a hard power intervention showing itself as the tantrum it was and still not being enough to sway a country which could normally be easily managed through the velvet glove of diplomacy and a few $billion in economic aid. And it would be ignorant to think that Presidents Petro and Sheinbaum were oblivious to that reality in the moment, that any country could observe the outrageous opening salvo at Panama and see it as anything but a weak country with no political sway outside of the economic dependents the US calls “allies.”
Stage 1 Ceasefire In Gaza: What Comes Next?
We all know Trump and how he operates. Look to North Korea, a purely optical win for the President at the time, and see how this ceasefire agreement could ultimately be another similar stunt purely for the cameras and fame – without the intent or wherewithal to enforce down the line. This move by the incoming-President is not one of empathy, but one of petty politics with no intent of US enforcement after the coming week(s). Trump is concerned with legacy as much as – if not more than – Biden; as a media diva he knows exactly the routines which Liberal Democrats are now enacting as the Mummy President is soon to be wheeled from the Oval Office for the final time, well aware that the waning days of the 46th President are being used to build a wall of credibility, competence, and achievement around Biden. We all know Trump’s pettiness isn’t going to let that slide.