Convicted felon in the White House – World waits anxiously
Editorial
January 21, 2025

Convicted felon in the White House – World waits anxiously

FOR THE FIRST TIME in history, a convicted felon has entered the White House in Washington as the elected leader of the most powerful country on earth, the United States of America. Donald J.Trump was yesterday sworn in for a second stint as President, making a remarkable political comeback after losing to Joe Biden in 2020.

Few would have imagined such a scenario, not after Trump himself was at the centre of an unprecedented insurrection five years ago, while he was still President. It led to a number of unprecedented events in the USA leading to Trump’s eventual conviction last year. Now he is back and apparently back with a vengeance. Yes, miracles do sometimes happen.

A feature of this new situation is the new President flexing his muscles even before being sworn in, aided by an insipid outgoing Biden regime. In spite of being the incumbent, Trump inserted himself in such major issues as the war in Ukraine and the Israeli war in Gaza, portraying himself as the purveyor of peace. It was not until the outgoing government was on its death bed that Biden tried to make himself relevant with such belated actions as partially lifting some unjust restrictions on Cuba and by granting clemency, posthumously, to the renowned Jamaican Black leader Marcus Garvey.

An anxious world now looks forward to Trump’s actions in office. His public statements on the campaign trail and after the Presidential election have fuelled that anxiety. In contrast to official US policy which regards Russia as Enemy No.1, he has pledged to use his personal friendship with Russian President,Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.Whereas Biden spoke limply of ending the widespread killing of Palestinians but in practice armed and defended the Netenyahu regime,Trump has positioned himself as a most unlikely “peacemaker” in the Middle East.

While the Caribbean does not seem to be high on Trump’s list, three areas of major concerns are Trump’s threats of mass deportations of immigrants, his insistence on imposing tariffs on exports to the USA, and the ominous statements about imperialist expansion in the western hemisphere.

Trump has spoken of violating Panama’s sovereign rights over the Panama Canal, has indicated that he wants US possession of Greenland, itself under the colonial control of Denmark, and, even more ominously, making Canada the “51st State” of the USA. If he can threaten the second largest country in the world like that, what of the sovereignty of tiny countries like ours?

So, the world awaits. But it would be useful for Donald Trump and his Republicans to check a bit of history. At the end of the 19th century, Grover Cleveland, like Trump, a President who had been defeated, returned in electoral triumph to the White House. His triumphalism led him to introduce and implement a series of unpopular policies which eventually cost his party two decades in the wilderness. History can teach, if one is willing to learn.