Since January 20, 2025, America has ceased to be a normal country.
It is no longer the world’s greatest democracy, the leading global economic power that others look to for inspiration, and perhaps not even the largest military power that once offered protection. President Donald Trump is transforming it, day by day, at breakneck speed, into a vast global laboratory shaped in his image. His goal? To dismantle everything achieved in the last 50 years on social rights and, more importantly, to destroy a federal government he considers too invasive, outdated, bloated, and inefficient—starting with the written Constitution, on which every president swears an oath of office.
But this time, it’s different. Trump swore the oath, but a second later, he began signing hundreds of executive orders, bypassing Congress and the separation of powers, and governing by decree for the past 30 days.
For a first assessment of his presidency, Trump chose CPAC, the major conservative gathering recently held in Maryland. Normally, if we’re talking about a car, an inspection is carried out by certified mechanics. If it’s a person’s health, hospitals and highly qualified doctors are trusted. When assessing the state of a nation’s economy, one turns to renowned economists.
But in this case, Trump looked no further than himself to measure his success. It was a check-up for the country’s internal and international issues, and there are no standards of high or low values to measure against. The only value is what the president says it is, and in Trump’s estimation, America has already changed for the better – thriving, propelled by his singular way of thinking.
However, since his first term, Trump has maintained a strained relationship with truth and reality. He distorts it, exaggerates it, alters it, and in the end, lies about it. He is convinced that the media’s disinformation is harmful, while his “alternative facts” actually reward him.
This is evident in the claim of $50 million in condoms shipped by USAID to Hamas, a blatant lie used to justify the total shutdown of the U.S. humanitarian agency. Or the 8% cuts to the Pentagon, with the removal of generals and admirals to show that even the military suffers from corruption and discrimination against white service members. The same applies to the departments governing education, health, and border security, where Trump has placed only billionaire friends who excel at running their businesses, or highly popular conservative figures who are loyal to him but wholly incompetent.
Yet, nothing Trump has done as president thus far can be labeled criminal despite being inherently wrong.
For the past 30 days, he has been resetting the rules, conducting a “stress test” of presidential power that no one has ever attempted before. The Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that the president has immunity for official acts has emboldened Trump to govern by decree, challenging the constitutionality of his actions.
So far, courts have received 79 lawsuits against his imperial edicts. In some cases, draconian measures, like Musk’s broad cuts to the federal workforce through DOGE, have been blocked, frozen, or postponed for higher court review. In other cases, Trump has been given the green light, such as with the dismantling of USAID and the closure of thousands of federal offices, including inspectors general offices that might call out conflicts of interest.
One month into his presidency, an assessment of Trump’s second term reveals not only a fundamentally altered America but a planet led by outright dictators like Putin, Xi Jinping, and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who divide global business interests with no regard for borders, self-determination, or collective defense alliances.
In other words, if Xi Jinping truly aims to annex Taiwan and abolish the status quo of its systems, it’s hard to imagine a U.S. military intervention to defend Taipei, and even harder to see militarization in neighboring countries to stop the Chinese army. Putin has already done it with Crimea, and Beijing could reduce Taiwan to the same status as Hong Kong.
Trump believes he can “Make America Great Again” by focusing solely on national interests and clashing with long-standing allies, and that this would enhance America’s global reputation. In reality, it does the opposite. Ask around—America discredits itself and loses its democratic reputation when everything is reduced to a business deal or price tag with heavy-handed tariffs. The House and Senate are no longer the instruments for overseeing the president and preserving democracy.
Trump has already put a price on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and is calling for the removal of Zelensky, labeling him “dictator” who refuses to call elections, even though wartime is broadly considered one of the only situations where postponing elections is acceptable. The Ukrainian president has countered Trump’s tough talk with a simple request: “protect us by bringing us into NATO and Europe. If this brings peace and salvation to Ukraine, I’ll step down immediately.” But even aspiring emperor Trump can’t promise this, just as he can’t guarantee that the trade war and mass federal cuts leading to rising unemployment will lower consumer prices for Americans. The second check-up in March could bring even more unpleasant surprises, possibly leading to the implosion of his White House and further chaos for the country.
