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America holds itself in high regard. Americans pride themselves on being The No. 1 Superpower with a rich, innovative economy and a muscly military, a melting pot where all can live side by side, a country of opportunity where everyone can rise if they work hard. The USA sees itself as the world’s indispensable policeman, the exemplar of democracy- and crusader for human rights in foreign lands.

In short, America sees itself as the ‘light on the hill’, the ideal to which the peoples of other less progressive countries should and do aspire.
It’s a vainglorious self-image born of good intentions.
Those good intentions have been beautifully expressed many times since the founding of the nation in the eighteenth century, when the Founding Fahers agreed on a Constitution which read,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that amongst these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

United States Declaration of Independence 1776

Faith in this dream was re-expressed by the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg, two years before the end of the bloody Civil War in which 750,000 soldiers died or were wounded.

This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that the government of the peope, by the people, for the peope shall not perish from the earth

Gettysburg Address 1863

 

That other great President – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – steadied the ship of state on the same course when he wrestled to lead America through the Great Depression and the Second World War,

We seek a world…based on four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in the world. The second is the freedom of every person to worship God in their own way – everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want…(to) secure every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear (where) no nation will be in a position to commit an act of aggression against any neighbour – anywhere in the world. This is no vision of a distant millennium. It is (the) kind of world attainable in our time and generation

 Eighth State of The Union Address, Jan 1941

JFK contemporised a similar message in a way that helped stiffen American values in another time of crisis.

dare not forget we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been handed to a new generation of Americans…….born in this Century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage – and an unwillingness to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights which this Nation has always been committed

Inaugural Address 1962 (The Famous “Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for our Country” Speech)

Let’s look at how well America’s 45th and 47th President marches in this long tradition of striving to improve the lives of ordinary people everywhere.

A 180 DEGREE TURN – TRUMPISM

Trump doesn’t believe that all people (even as an ideal) should be treated equally. He believes in a many tiered hierarchy.

At the top are those who Trump insists must be looked after – ie. super wealthy Americans (like himself), then the super wealthy from anywhere, followed by wealthy white Americans, then (at a long distant behind) lower middle class and working-class Americans, those he conned into voting for him with promises to improve their lot – and lastly, some ‘useful’ immigrants to do the dirty, low paid jobs Americans don’t want to do.

The rest of the world (friend and foe alike) can go to hell in a handbasket as far as Trump is concerned. They all survive by ripping off America, by draining America of its wealth. They’re leeches.

You want proof of the above slander?

As actions speak louder than words let’s look, in turn, at how his Administration has treated different groups of people.

1. NON-AMERICANS-THE OUTSIDE WORLD

MAGA in action has behaved as follows,

• Humanitarian aid drastically cut (within the first six months of Trump’s second term).
  
• USAID formerly the largest humanitarian aid organisation in the world (which primarily services the world’s starving, poverty stricken and those living resource poor nations suffering from war, disease and natural disasters) has been shut down. These savings (around $40 billion per annum) will (according to Trump and DOGE) help reduce the US deficit and make bigger tax cuts for the super wealthy possible.

• In terms of ‘soft power’ Trump is quickly depleting America’s reserves. Previous allies no longer trust this volatile, maverick President. He, so far, has punished America’s traditional allies as (if not more) severely than democracies’ enemies. America’s enemies love him. Putin and Xi count Trump as a major asset in their quest to assert their own power. It will take decades for America to regain what Trump has already lost in a few months. Trump, like most bullies, fails to realise that an America without willing allies will be a weaker America.

The human cost of this Administration’s ‘efficiency’ drive, although enormous, is difficult to quantify. Here are a couple of relatively independent assessments of what the world outside America will involuntarily pay,

at least 23 million children stand to lose access to education ,as many as 95 million will lose access  to basic healthcare ,potentially leading to more than three million preventable deaths per year.

Referring to shut down of US humanitarian aid Oxfam: March 2025.

In relation to the records of USAID,

–“….(the programme) has saved 1.6 million from Aids, 500,000 deaths from lack of vaccines, 300,000 deaths from tuberculosis, 290,000 from malaria.

Centre For Global Development, March 2025

With regard to famine relief,

–….about 500,000 metric tons of food (mainly lentils, rice and wheat) are in limbo – at risk of spoilage – in transit or storage as humanitarian organisations wait for the US State Dept. to release it. (Emergency food aid to Sudan and Gaza have been halted) ….two of the three suppliers of nutritional supplements (primarily peanut pastes), the lifesaving supplements needed by the severely malnourished children of the world) have received stop-work orders (removed since the writing of this report )….(putting the) famine fighting system (that )was already under enormous strain at further risk.

Edited version ‘Halt in US Aid Cripples Global Efforts to Relieve Hunger’:Reuters Feb 2025

All this damage to ‘save’ a very modest amount of money.

US Foreign Aid (excluding military aid and arms contracts) has ranged between 0.9% and 1.8% of the Federal Budget, less than 1% of US GDP. That’s a very modest amount by anyone’s standards. In 2024 it was near the upper end of this range, but is now well below its peak of 4.7% ikn 1963.

Trump longs to be seen as the super-rich tzar of a ‘worldwide’ billionaires and big power boys club. To court their favour(and dollars) he believes he needs to position himself as ‘the Man’ who can make those elite club members even richer and more powerful than they already are …and, by so doing earn both their vassalry – and a handsome fee for his unique services. (It’s estimated Trump has increased his wealth by near three billion dollars this year). This is what Trump means when he uses one of his favourite words, the word ‘respect’. He both craves an demands it, be it in the form of $s from the rich and/or obsequious flattery from the leaders of other nations.

He behaves as a Robin Hood in reverse. (He takes from the poor and gives to the rich) while posing in the media as the champion of America’s dispossessed. It’s a classic con which he pulls off with theatrical flair in an over the top style reminiscent of a latter day Liberace.

The suffering of others is just a convenient prop he uses to demonstrate his empathy, just as he finishes his public speeches with the words “God Bless America” as if he were a firm beiever in the Ten Commandments. Trump sees nothing wrong with the suggestion that two million Gazans should be moved on to other ‘beautiful’ countries so the US (and his friend – Netanyahu) could build a new Riviera for the world’s rich to frolic in. He not only thinks such a soution being both good business and good politics – he also believes it’s deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize.

2. CLOSING THE BORDER TO IMMIGRATION.

Trump has long blamed an invasion of undesirables for a decline in American lifestyles and living standards. He is particularly averse to would be migrants from poorer and troubled countries, especially those of South America -including Colombia, Haiti, Costa Rica and Venezuela.

Only two, short quotes are needed to more than amply capture Trump’ stance,

the Democrats say, please don’t call them animals, they’re humans. I said, no they’re not, they’re animals. Nancy Pelosi told me that. She said, please don’t use the word animals when you’re talking about such people. I said I’ll use the word animal because that’s what they are

 (Trump, Grand Rapid Rally, April 2024)

and,

We have a national immigration crisis, and it’s taking place right now . It’s a massive invasion that has spread misery, crime, disease and destruction to communities right across our nation

(Trump, 19/3/24.)

His descriptions of people coming to the Mexican border are peppered with words like rapists, slavers, drug runners, terrorists, human traffickers and asylum inmates.

A content-analysis of the words and themes Trump repeatedly uses to describe border people (conducted by The Marshal Project in August 2024) listed the top five as being ,

1. criminals (575+ times)
2. from jails and mental institutions (560+)
3. killing, injuring Americans (285+)
4. causing crime in sanctuary cities (185+)
5. eating pets or (being) snakes that bite (about equal at around 40 times each).

These words dramatically contrast with the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

That inscription has inspired and welcomed millions of newcomers to America since 1876.

The poor of Ireland arrived from a famine riven country to first be treated as an underclass (many a New York boarding house carried a Vacancy-sign with a caveat line saying “NO DOGS – OR IRISH). Over time the Irish slowly climbed the social ladder. First as the policemen of New York until by the early 1960s JFK became the first Irish Catholic to hold the office of the most powerful person in the world. Obama followed a similar path as person of colour.

In 1885 Trump’s grandfather would have sailed past the Statue of Liberty as he arrived from Bavaria as a 16-year-old. He learnt to be a barber. Friedrich went back to Bavaria before returning with a wife (whose maiden name was Rich) to build his wealth on the frontier in the hospitality industry (selling accommodation, food and sex). His son, another Fred, dealt in Bronx real estate to build a business that his son, the 45th and 47th President of the United States, inherited.

There’s more than a slim possibility that if a 16-from Bavaria year old, without qualification or wealth, tried to reside in America today he would not meet his grandson’s criteria for citizenship.

Trump is determined to stop ‘aliens’ from putting foot on American soil because once that happens illegals can disappear into the community and, currently, can’t be deported without due process. Best to keep them out in the first place.

With that aim in mind Trump issued Executive Orders that ban (suspend or quota restrict) travellers from 19 countries, including some that Trump is pressuring to accept deportees from America as a ‘favour’ to his Administration! That’s real chutzpah, brassiness at its best.

Steps are being taken to remove due-process rights, asylum rights and tighten citizenship criteria. About the only migrants Trump welcomes are white South Africans – and the wealthy from anywhere. (Trump proposed issuing a Gold Card where citizenship could be bought at the price of $5 million per person).

The budget for Mexican-US border control has been boosted to around $US45 billion (approx AU$70 billion) .Billions will be spent extending the Wall, increasing US Troop, National Guard and Border Patrol numbers, adding more electronic surveillance devices and supplying new equipment ranging from vehicles to helicopters etc.
Adios amigos, time to go back home.

3. DEPORTING ‘ALIENS’ BY THE MILLIONS

There are about 11 million ‘illegal aliens’ (undocumented immigrants) in America -around 3% of the population.

Some have been living there for years awaiting courts to decide on their application for asylum. Others hide to remain invisible to authorities fearing deportation if found. Yet others conduct questionable businesses. Some are criminals.

While waiting, these people live in a limbo of uncertainty and anxiety without access to meaningful welfare support. Consequently most have to work wherever they can find it-to get money to live. Some marry American citizens, others marry each other, many have children.

Because most live below the radar nobody is really sure what the hard statistics are. Where there are no facts, assumptions, opinions, conspiracy theories and prejudices quickly flood in to fill the gap.

Some, like Trump, see these people as a dangerous underclass of nasties (drug runners, rapist, murderers etc) who don’t pay taxes but utilise all the wonderful things America offers. He goes on to emphasise that even the nice ones steal jobs from hard working Americans and depress wage rates. That’s MAGA’s narrative. It highlights the number and nature of crimes aliens commit, claiming their rate of crime (and especially violent crime) is far higher than amongst the general population.

Others claim an objective analysis of crime statistics shows the reverse, that the crime rate amongst illegals is less (not more) than in the general population. They fiercely contest MAGA’s narrative.

Yet others claim research challenges the Administration’s narrative that illegals are a drain on the economy by pointing out that American farm exports would be jeopardised if these people weren’t available. Ditto for a whole range of other labour intensive, small businesses ranging from fast food, clothing to home cleaning and maintenance services.

No matter. Events have overtaken such competing narratives.

The only fact is Trump wants all 11 million illegal aliens out of America – ideally within a year or so.

That is mission impossible. It can’t be done. But Tom Homan (Trump’s Border Tzar) is more than willing to give it a go by employing what he describes as “shock and awe” tactics. All up, the Administration has set aside a budget of US$315 billion to achieve the Administration’s objective. That’s a huge amount of money. It will serve to double the number of ICE officers, build new temporary detention centres, expand the number of immigration courts, supply support staff for front-line operatives, buy new equipment, find and fund the planes needed to fly deportees back to a huge number of countries – and much more.

Mobilising and operationalising all those resources takes time, time this Administration does not have.

Tom Homan (the Administration’s deportation tzar) said efforts would initially be focused on finding and deporting the most dangerous of illegals-criminals. That makes sense. But it has proved a difficult and slow task given how skillful these targets are at evading the law. ICE has to find these people before it can arrest and deport them.

President (always impatient) Trump’s anger at the slow number of arrests being made lifted ICE’s target to 1,200 arrests a day (reputedly now lifted to 3,000 arrests a day). To get anywhere near that figure required a loosening of the criteria as to who to go after. The net had to be and was widened. As a consequence all sorts people-criminals, the undocumented, those awaiting asylum application results, illegals with American born children, foreign university students and innocents were all caught up in ICE’s net. As the hunt became more indiscriminate and frenetic, fear spread throughout ethnic communities as to who might be caught up in process.

Public sentiment started to turn negative.

Here are a few of the reasons why.

• Instead of seeking to arrest identified illegals, agents went hunting for might-be illegals at shopping centres and other places where people of various ethnic profiles live, work and spend their leisure time. Where agents see what they feel is suspicious behaviour, or what they regard as tell-tale signs of alien behaviour, they move in to interrogate, detain or arrest, not always, but enough times to spread fear throughout many a non-white community.

Sometimes, agents wait around court houses and offices where people legally go to progress their residency and asylum applications. That’s not enforcement. It’s a form of fishing.

VS

• Federal agents have taken to wearing masks and clothing that fails to identify which authority they represent. They often fail to show ID or warrant cards or even verbally inform those they ‘arrest’ of why they are being arrested. They pounce out of nowhwhere. This is over the top behaviour in a democracy. It’s the sort of behaviour many of those arrested sought to escape, a reason they left their place of birth to come to America. They’ve seen alleged agents of the State conduct virtual kidnappings off the street never to be seen again. Such ‘come with us’ tactics trigger terror – they’re meant to.

• Shock and awe tactics lead to collateral damage.

Early on in Trump’s second term 200+ alleged so called Venezuelan gang members were rounded up, shackled, marched onto US military planes under armed escort and sent to a notoriously tough prison in El Salvador where they were left incommunicado. All that happened without due process. These men were ‘processed’ without their day in court or legal representation. This happened in spite of a Federal judge ruling the action illegal and ordering the planes to turn around and bring those men back to America. The DOJ ignored that ruling. The planes delivered their cargo.

The US wanted to send these alleged (MS13) gang members back to Venezuela where they came from. Venezuela rejected the request. The US then did a deal with El Salvador (for the sum of US$ 5 million) to accept them. Details of that deal are unknown. The status of individual detainees remains unclear. Most seem to have been classed as gang members by the US because they were Venezuelan and/or had a criminal record, and/or were undocumented entrants to America and/or had gang-like tattoos on their body.

Some (it later turned out) probably weren’t gang members but innocents caught up in a flawed process. One – and only one to date – has managed to secure release. As long as these prisoners remain cut off from the outside world we’ll never know how many innocent have been incarcerated in this hell-hole.

And hell-hole it is. Eighty to a cell. They share two toilets, wash in two hand basins, have no access to the internet, TV or radio are allowed, no writing materials, no mail, no visitors, little and basic food and 40 minutes communal, exercise a day. Worst of all, they have no idea of whether they’ll ever see the outside world again. Prison authorities repeatedly remind them that few will ever see blue skies again. They live under fluorescent lighting 24/7.

Noem’s (seen in the photo above) visit secured but minor concessions to improve prisoner conditions. Instead of having to sleep on bare metal-based bunk beds she, reportedly, secured a thin mattress and pillow for each prisoner. Other than that the Secretary of Home Affairs seem to find things AOK.

How long will US$5 million keep these prisoners in prison? Not long. Then what happens? I’m pretty sure Trump doesn’t care.

• America is finding it increasingly hard to find countries willing to accept its ‘returns’ (deportees) in large numbers. Yes, birth countries are usually prepared to do a little to reabsorb some of their own kind. It’s good PR. But accepting big numbers is another thing. America, they argue, should pay something to solve what has become America’s problem. Sometimes it does. There have been deals with Mexico and others. But details of government-to-government deals are few and are likely to remain so.

The US also offers ‘sweeteners’ by way of free airfares, the waiving of fees, reestablishment monies, the forgiveness of fines etc to induce individuals to voluntarily exit America …sometimes destination countries kick the can too. But again, detail are sketchy.

• Overall, America faces a problem – birth countries aren’t re-absorbing enough. America has a surplus of deportees to get rid of. American embassies around the world have been ordered to try and encourage their host countries to accept deportees from ‘third’ countries – as a favour to America. Rarely are these requests met with enthusiasm. Ironically, America is approaching some of the same countries the President has described as shit holes. Some tough negotiations lie ahead.

That might be a problem for the Trump Administration, but it is nothing compared to the problems third country deportees will probably confront if they’re unlucky enough to be sent to an unfamiliar country. What happens to a young Asian women sent to a country like Libya? What sort of future can she expect? The newly arrived usually have to start at the bottom. It’s harder to settle in if you’re poor when you arrive alone, the older you are, if locals have different religious beliefs to you, if you have a child or children in tow or if you can’t find a fellow countryman nearby.
Sending people to third countries can be a severe sentence to impose on anyone. Trump has no qualms doing so as long as it solves his problems. Out of sight out of mind. Bon voyage ….to anywhere. Good riddance says Trump.

• Perhaps the unkindest cut of all is to confront deportee parents with the choice of leaving their American born children in America (if they can)or taking those children with them into uncertain futures under difficult circumstances. It’s Hobson’s Choice. If they choose to let their children stay, they (and their children) will suffer all the pains of separation. If they choose to keep the family together and take their kids with them those children, although they’re technically American, may have great difficulty returning to America in later life without adequate documentation.

Tom Homan says that’s OK because the parents’ have a choice. Nobody (he says with a straight face) is forced to part with their children.

Homan, the Administration, the President, MAGA and Congress see their mission as a simple one. Go – get out of here!

4. THE BETRAYED WORKERS OF AMERICA

Trump’s base voted for him because he promised to restore them to their proper place in the sun – to deliver them the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. He promised to get rid of the illegal aliens stealing their jobs and corrupting wholesome American communities with drugs, violence and crime .He promised to stop foreign nations ripping off American workers by imposing tariffs and rebuilding US manufacturing. He promised to stop spending American treasure on fruitless overseas wars, to bring peace to the world. He promised to clear the Swamp of a selfish elite that cared little about the welfare of ordinary Americans. He promised his base justice. They believed him. They voted for him.
Once in office he forgot them.
The brutality of the Administration’s deportee war has frightened others besides illegals. Americans have seen the State, on Trump’s command, become thug like in its use of force, dismissive of the rule of law, cruel and inhumane in its treatment of and indifference to the futures of those it tricked into voting for it. They see their country turning into a police state and, understandably, most don’t like it.
The implications of the Trump tarrif wars are also becoming clearer to people in the street. Tariffs aren’t going to enhance their standard of living or significantly reduce the nation’s debt. Quite the opposite. Big tariffs will reignite inflation and higher consumer prices. They will also slow economic growth. That’s not what they voted for.
Add to that the fact government support services (courtesy of DOGE and Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill) will be cut or reduced to unprecedented levels and you can see why many are feeling betrayed by their President.
Access to free and subsidised healthcare will decline. Medicare/Medicaid cuts will see around 20 million affected. Huge numbers will have to pay for treatment out of their own pocket. Insurance premiums will rise to a level most can’t afford. Hospitals (rural hospitals in particular) will close. Access to other support/welfare services will be cut. The services that remain will deteriorate as staff cutbacks and resignations of experienced federal employees take hold.
So far about 12% of the Federal workforce (somewhere around 275,000) have been fired or accepted redundancy payouts. The consequences of those ‘savings’ will soon become apparent.
It’s working class American’s, Veterans, the chronically ill and disabled, children from poorer backgrounds who will bear the brunt of these cut backs that are needed to extend tax cuts to the super wealthy.

Trump’s policies are regressive.
The real living standard of hundreds of millions of Americans are far more likely to decline than improve under MAGA. As that realisation dawns on more and more Americans they will, hopefully, resist and, over time, resist more strongly. Trump has only been in office for170 days.
Unfortunately Trump’s personality is such that he’ll respond by becoming even more volatile and repressive in his attempts to assert his will. If his henchmen and women are to hold on to their high offices they have no option but to carry out his orders. If they don’t express their 100% loyalty to ‘Daddy’ their heads will quickly roll. Elon has already left the building in disgrace.

So if you hear the mournful toll of bells across America ask not for whom those bells toll. They toll for ordinary Americans and lovers of democracy all around the world.