-Analysis-
PARIS — As an anniversary gift for his 100th day in the White House, Donald Trump received a hard slap: The Canadian voters he had pushed around and looked down upon handed victory to the candidate who had built his campaign on “resistance to Trump.”
“Trump is trying to break us,” said a triumphant Mark Carney, leader of the Liberal Party.
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It is the clearest sign yet that the “tough guy” approach of the 47th president of the United States is failing to deliver. Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump has sought to impress the world with an aggressive stance: treating Canada like a would-be 51st state, trying to wrench Greenland from Denmark, laying claim to the Panama Canal or seeing Gaza as a luxury real estate opportunity.
The self-proclaimed champion of “America First” has tried to reshape the global order in the United State’s favor through brute force. He chose to be feared rather than admired or envied — but it’s clear that this approach isn’t working. He’s hastened the breakdown of the post-war order without offering a realistic alternative.
New world disorder
The world according to Trump is more complicated than expected. Peace in Ukraine in “24 hours” remains far out of reach; the Middle East is anything but stable. As for Europe, now under threat of being reduced to a vassal, it dreams — using the words of incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, traditionally a staunch Atlanticist — of becoming “independent from America.”
The initial shock-and-awe effect of Trump’s flurry of actions has faded.
Facing China, Trump has launched a trade war he cannot win. China is emerging as the rival power of the 21st century, utterly unimpressed by astronomical tariffs — and above all, capable of long-term strategic patience, while Trump is weighed down by slumping poll numbers, a faltering stock market and anxious consumers.
If Trump expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to fold immediately, he was gravely mistaken. It raises the question: Do his advisors have any real understanding of China, its system and imperial ambition, which makes surrender unthinkable?
The other major enigma is Trump’s fascination with and indulgence toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s fate hangs in the balance, and Trump continues to wait for Putin to hand him the gift of a peace deal.
The end of soft power
Trump’s first 100 days have failed to convince, and the initial shock-and-awe effect of his flurry of actions has faded. The story isn’t over yet. But everyone now knows what to expect — and, above all, is developing workarounds to avoid the wrath of this unpredictable president.
Along the way, in just 100 days, he has undermined — if not outright destroyed — decades of soft power, that “gentle influence” which, from Hollywood films to jeans and big cars, made the American way of life a desirable model around the world.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev once joked to U.S. President John F. Kennedy: “You don’t need propaganda — everyone wants to live like in Hollywood movies. Who wants to live like in Soviet films?”
What’s left of that today? To paraphrase Khrushchev: Who wants to live in Trump’s America?
