Trump and Manifest Destiny in Davos
One of the greatest US presidents of the 19th century, he was the leader who best interpreted the political and geopolitical nature of Manifest Destiny, a fundamental doctrine for understanding this country and its people, and who referred to “American greatness”, which I mention in quotation marks because it is the greatest national aspiration, based on the unity that had been threatened by the Civil War (1861-1865) that Lincoln had to face, and which was limited to the construction of the American imaginary as a compact nation, beyond its own circumstantial adversity, which is precisely what Trump has referred to and which little or nothing is being understood, or is being evaded in order to understand the movement of pieces in the dynamics of the contemporary world order, especially when he talks about Greenland, the economic benefits achieved in the first year of his second term, and the enormous military power he wields.
Lincoln's political idealism served to preserve the Union as the political foundation of the country, which in those years was bloodied by the aforementioned civil war, and has been brought into the 21st century in the form of pure political realism by Trump. The current president departs from the historical idealism that was even seen with John F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated (1963) like Lincoln.
Trump masterfully uses Manifest Destiny as a source of inspiration for today's so-called American greatness, which he referred to again in Davos and which translates into the country's unwavering attitude of not letting anyone challenge its global power. Today, the challenge for Trump's United States, amid competition, is to maintain its superpower status and move its pieces according to its unquestionable deterrent virtue, looking at the wars it has just proudly referred to as winning or controlling (Gaza, Iran, Venezuela, etc.).
Trump has not stopped referring to US military supremacy as the guarantee of global peace, reminding the nations of the world, mainly European ones, that their destiny is tied to that of the US. The latter is the greatest imperative set as a goal by the Republican president, and it should not be difficult to realise his objective, beyond the irreverent methods he refers to, irritating everyone. Trump knows very well that power is cyclical and, moreover, that it is not perpetual, which is why he is rushing not to give in to the great truths of power theory that we teachers are obliged to explain in class in order to understand what is happening in the world.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Mackay, former Foreign Minister of Peru
Article published in the Diario Expreso newspaper in Peru