After the Second World War, the global position of the USA has been undisputably dominant, and it is therefore difficult for the country and its governments to recognize the unavoidable need to adapt to the changes that took place over the last 2-3 decades.

What are these changes? Generally, the global US predominance in the global economy, in arms, and consequently in political influence, has been seriously reduced. This is probably best illustrated by the fact that since 1960, the global share of US GDP has come down drastically: from 40% to 14.5% in 2025.

But the US military spending still represents 37% of the global spending (China has 12%, and Russia 5.5%), which stands for 3.1%, 1.7%, and 7.1% of the GDP of the three respective countries.

This illustrates that America still relies heavily on its defense potential—with thousands of nuclear warheads—although everybody knows that nuclear war remains an option only for destroying our civilization for good.

Therefore, what is the practical importance of nuclear arms? In spite of its irrationality, it all remains in the speculation of the military-industrial leadership, which undoubtedly makes huge money on defense spending. Who will stop this absurd and extremely expensive manipulation? At the moment, we do not have a reasonable answer to this existentially important question.

At any rate, America remains the captive of its own ideological construct, which forces other leading nations—particularly Russia, China, and India—to play this senseless and extremely expensive scenario instead of giving their populations the chance of decent and happier living.

This is a vicious circle, and the question to answer is who and when will be able to stop it, or at least seriously reduce defense spending, keeping in mind that the three countries, the US, China, and Russia, are responsible for over half of the total global defense spending (54.5%).

The nine countries in possession of nuclear warheads had a total of 12,101 of them, Russia alone 5,459, and the USA had 5,177. The cost of maintaining this arsenal is estimated at $50-60 billion annually, so the total spent to build and maintain this arsenal so far has been estimated at over $400 billion. There is no need to comment on these figures—in particular, knowing that about a third of the global population is forced to survive on less than a dollar a day!

Another paradox is that officially, 140 million, or 43%, of the US adult population is classified as “poor or living on low income,” while about 650,000 citizens are homeless. And why do these circumstances not disturb the American authorities? The cynical answer to this question is that they believe that this is the needed pressure on the working people to accept the working conditions ruling the labor market and keep the employers competitive in the domestic and global markets. In other words, this is how the working Americans are supporting the owners of capital and enjoying the benefits of American democracy!

Since in their system the role of the president is huge, it is very important that this role is entrusted to a responsible person. After the first year of President Trump’s second term is behind us, the fear about what is to be expected is more than justified.

Here is a summary of the negative impact he has already created:

  • Serious damage to the liberal international order.

  • He has weakened America economically and politically.

  • The reputation of the US in developed countries has taken a severe hit.

  • China is a big winner.

  • Ukraine faces a much more ominous future.

  • The Palestinians and Israel will both be worse off.

  • The world economy will be smaller than it would otherwise be.

On the other hand—not necessarily by intention—here are also some positive impacts:

  • Actual promotion of European unity.

  • Germany seems set to restore its leading position in the EU.

  • Great Britain is moving closer to Europe.

All in all, the global community has not been facing so many challenges simultaneously for decades. Only such a pretentious US president could open so many issues, partly recognizing the situation in which America has lost much of its global prestige but rejecting it.

President Trump has a problem not being ready to fully recognize that the American economic, technological, political, and even military global advantage has been drastically reduced. The changes are so important that—if America continues to behave as it did in the past—this may lead to serious conflicts with unforeseeable consequences. It seems that, by ignoring these significant changes, President Trump is provoking the leaders of the international community, who will be forced to remind him that his provocative behavior may lead to an open military conflict, which cannot solve any of the challenges the international community is facing today.

In these increasingly tense situations, Europe is not playing an active role by warning the United States to stop this dangerous policy introduced by President Trump. The most recent case is the open announcement that America intends to take over and annex the island of Greenland, in spite of the official rejection of the Danish government and the local population. The justification is that America needs it for its own security.

It is most disturbing that President Trump completely ignores the reactions to his policies in the country, as well as around the globe. Probably the only thing that could—and hopefully should—change President Trump’s behavior is a much stronger reaction in the country and worldwide. In the process of needed mobilization, the decisive role to engage the governments should be played by civil society, adequate political parties, and, in particular, the influential non-government organizations.

As long as this does not take place, it becomes obvious that globally we are still far from really functioning as effective democracies, and therefore “we have a quasi-democratic situation, as deserved!” Through millennia, humanity should have learned that societies enjoy the level of democracy for which they are ready to fight—basically with active involvement in policy-making—and, when necessary, creating adequate pressure on elected policy-makers. Members of society should by now understand that nothing good comes by itself, without our effort, and the same goes for democracy!

America has long been an exemplary system of democracy, but at some point, the elites decided on an oligarchic pattern, which gives them access to a bigger share of resources and income. Unfortunately, the rest of society lost confidence in their own power to protect their legitimate interests, while the elites have developed an effective system to protect their privileges. Of course, they insist that America is the model of democracy and maintain the established order—at home and, as much as possible, around the world.

Given what has been explained above, the world is not going to experience a promising future unless we all take our part of responsibility and start acting effectively.