AS Donald Trump delivered his second inaugural speech moments after his swearing in as the US 47th President, there was little doubt that his administration’s foreign policy, like his predecessor’s, would be anchored on savage attacks and ominous threats against nations perceived to be Uncle Sam’s ‘enemies’. It was, as largely expected, a speech that would seek to assert the US ‘dominance’ on global politics and economics, a speech that would put his stuttering country in good stead despite its waning infl uence.
And Trump did not disappoint! He fared well on virtually all fronts, effectively laying siege on everyone outside of the US’ borders. America, said Trump, ‘would be the envy of every nation’ haughtily adding that ‘we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer’. It was as bad as it gets for the likes of China —Uncle Sam’s biggest global economic rival — poor Panama, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and even WHO was accused of ‘ripping off ’ the US. “For American citizens, January 20 2025 is liberation day,” he said, suggesting that Americans have been under siege up until Monday.
While the body of water to the south of the US has been referred to as the Gulf of Mexico for centuries, Trump vowed to change that, threatening another ugly confrontation with neighbouring Mexico. “America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” crowed Trump. “A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.”
However, according to a CNN fact check on Trump’s speech, former US President Barack Obama, in collaboration with Republicans in Alaska, had already changed the mountain’s name. Of course, Trump will not be bothered by that; his presidency will largely be replete with such moments of embarrassment given his volatile nature and bellicose mood and tone on Monday.
Then there was the routine open confrontation with countries like Panama and China. “He (McKinley) was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for the many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States,” said Trump. “And Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. “Above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China.
We gave it to Panama and we are taking it back.” While he seemingly held back on increasing tariff s on Chinese products, Trump tasked his team to explore ways of handling the drawn-out tariff s stand-off between the two nations. He, however, indicated that he would ‘think’ about the issue, a not so comforting sign for the Asian economic powerhouse given the US President’s dreadful record of inconsistency. For countries such as Zimbabwe, which has been at the mercy of the US’ unprovoked and unwarranted aggression for more than two decades, there will be few takeaways from that bullish speech. Harare will cautiously embrace his ‘America First’ policy which, on paper, is seemingly in tandem with its ‘Nyika Inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo’ mantra. Uncle Sam’s penchant for interfering in Zimbabwe’s internal aff airs needs no introduction to those inclined to the discourse of progress and development.
As such, we should brace ourselves for intermittent war of words between the two diametrically opposed nations. There, too, should be no expectation that there will be immediate lifting of economic sanctions on Harare. The Zimbabwe Government mantra ensures that priority is given to locals in its ongoing eff orts to rebuild the country that has been battered by US and EU illegal economic sanctions for the past 23 years. It will also duly welcome Trump’s stern stance on homosexuality, his proposal to cut foreign aid mainly to NGOs that have been used as conduits for the foiled regime change agenda by successive US administrations since the turn of the millennium. Let us hear Trump speak:
On gender (homosexuality):
“This week I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colour blind and merit based.As of today, it will henceforth be the offi cial policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
On foreign development aid:
department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programmes shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds.”
On education
“We have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them.” That surely rings a bell in Zimbabwe where some of our so-called ‘academics’ have sadly taken it upon themselves to thrive on demonising their country while preaching the message of hate under the guise of proff ering ‘expert’ advice on matters that do not concern them or are beyond their grasp. But that is where it all ends. The struggle continues.
And the ugly did not end there. His snubbing of SADC’s economic giant South Africa to his inauguration is yet another hint that the US will continue to destabilise the region. Let those with ears listen.