It is happening there!

In the Louvre in Paris hangs a large wall painting (33 ft x 22 ft) of the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte (Le Sacre de Napoléon) which depicts the French man (b. 1769) from Corsica Island, literally crowning himself in front of the adoring – or frightened – court audience. Napoleon was seven years old when the American colonists declared their War of Independence against the maniacal king of Great Britain, George III, who was known as “the king who lost America.”

Trump sees himself as “the American strongman,” on a par with Putin and Xi.

Former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon has sycophantically egged on Trump via his War Room, Far Right MAGA talk show, openly comparing his former boss to Washington and Lincoln. Bannon is no less delusional and megalomaniacal than his con-man boss Trump. For George Washington loathed any pretension of feudalism. And Abraham Lincoln warned his countrymen and -women against the un-checked power of concentrated corporate wealth as early as 1864.

In Lincoln’s words, “… corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

A son of a member of Ku Klux Kkan in New York City, a convicted felon himself, and draft-dodger, Trump’s trajectory and personhood resemble more like the utterly mad British king George III “who lost the America” than either Washington or Lincoln.

Indeed, Donald Trump’s second presidency should best be studied as an openly belligerent neo-feudalist or vainly imperialist chapter in the relatively new history of the United States (vis-à-vis China or Russia).

Unmistakably, as if he were the Emperor, Trump acts as though he is above the Law – that is, any law. As US Senator Bernie Sanders lambasted Trump’s leadership after the latter’s 90-minutes-long “State of the Union” address to Congress last night, when he (Sanders) said, “President Trump has been very effective in creating what I would call a “parallel universe” for his supporters – a set of ideas that either have NO basis in reality.”

If Trump leadership is delusional, then “tectonic” is the adjective typically used in reference to the unprecedented changes wrought by Trump’s presidential decrees.

No sooner had this strong-man taken oath to defend the Constitution of the United States than Trump has proceeded to, well, undermine the constitutional order at home – democracy in America.

 

Trump has created a Big Tent, accommodating all types of far-right ideological groupings, from white nationalists, corporate oligarchs, Free Market fundamentalists, “Israel-right-or-wrong” genocidal Zionists, and extremist Christian Zionists.

The imagery of the world’s richest man Elon Musk wielding a huge shiny chainsaw gifted to him on stage, shouting “This is chainsaw for bureaucracy!”. Musk who has built his wealth around $35 billion in federal subsidies for his conglomerate, leading the charge of gutting what little remains of the American welfare state and decimating social safety nets even for the poorest Americans and pensioners while putting the future of humanity at grave risk by adopting official climate change denialism should drive chill down the spine of any decent human, irrespective of nationality, political creed, religious faith, citizenship status or spiritual orientation.

Trumpian American oligarchs have for decades rigged the revenue system which have enabled them to siphon their ill-gotten wealth into their personal pockets while they have thrown the ideological crumbs of white supremacy, misogyny, racialized American patriotism, ultra-religious bigotry wrapped in Christianity, and delusional settler imperialism to the millions of frustrated and angry Americans.

The common bond amongst these diverse ideologues in Trumpian tent of Neanderthals appears to be the signature absence of concerns, compassion and conscience for unspeakable human sufferings, at home and abroad, be they Palestinians in the Occupied Territories of Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank or millions of migrant labourers, and undocumented foreigners in USA, or over 100 million refugees worldwide whose precarious existence has been made possible by humanitarian aid the vast proportions of which have come from Washington.

Additionally, and more relevant to the FORSEA YouTube public event, the US President has shown contempt for international law and in global governing institutions such as the United Nations and its organs including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as well as Washington’s own decades-long alliances.

Twenty-one distinguished scholars, analysts and activists from eleven countries on four continents will share their analyses on how the new Fascist-like policies which Trump-Vance-Musk oligarchy is pursuing are resulting in the devastating consequences for the world’s peoples and communities, as well as international law, norms and institutions.

Speakers’ information and event running order

International Times for the kick-off

 Virginia, Wilmington, NYC, Montreal, Toronto – 9 am
Madison/Chicago – 8 am
London – 1 pm
Milan, Frankfurt & Geneva – 2 pm
Palestine – 3 pm
Ankara – 4 pm
New Delhi – 6:30 pm
Kuala Lumpur – 9 pm
Tokyo – 10 pm
Tasmania – 00:00 am (midnight)

Please note: Beginning this 9 March, US and Canada observes daylight saving time, moving the clock 1 hr forward.

Further reading:

“Trump promised to make America great. Instead, he may bring about its destruction” Prospect Magazine
Randall Kennedy is the Michael R Klein Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His latest book is Say it Loud! On Race, Law, History and Culture (Vintage, 2023)