Now that Trump has been sworn in for some time now, he has already left his mark on this war. Although a change in leadership does mean changes in foreign policy, this change has been highly unpredictable.
Trump’s growing relations with Russia
Recently, Donald Trump has been taking an unprecedented stance against the United States’ staunch allies in Western Europe, Japan, Canada, and others, and has been getting closer to our traditional rivals, countries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Belarus, according to the New York Times. This is concerning because all of Trump’s new buddies are authoritarian, or at least thinly-veiled dictatorships. The way that this is looking, along with Trump’s recent abuse of the executive order, and members of his party’s attempts to give him unlimited terms, it seems like in the future, we could be living in a new authoritarian world order with Trump and his dictator cronies like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim-Jong Un, and Aleksandr Lukashenko heading it.
Although Mr Funka does not seem that concerned.
This could mean that Trump can only be doing this to get the upper hand in the negotiations. He thinks that he can just make this big show of power by negotiating with Russia directly without even negotiating with Ukraine, but then he can walk it back to more standard negotiations.
Trump’s Spat With Zelenskyy
On Feb 28, 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, visited the White House to start negotiations with Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and others about a mineral rights deal, but instead of real negotiations, he was berated and disrespected. Trump’s childish insults ranged from his outfit choice to his “dependence” on the United States.
It is embarrasing that we have the supposed “Leaders of the Free World” berating our allies and not even letting them speak before interrupting them in what was supposed to be a real discussion. If isolating actions like this continue, by the time that Trump leaves office, we will be all alone, with no allies.
Why Does This Matter?
You may be asking, “Why should this matter for a high schooler?” You should care because in 4 years all of us will be able to vote in the next election. This means that we will be able to exercise our rights to uphold democracy.
Although he has not said it, Trump has been clear in his message that he will be isolating our country from the rest of the world. Whether you view this as Woodrow Wilson-esque Isolationism or an unwillingness to work with the world order is up to you, but you need to do your part to support our American system, whether that be by voting Democrat or Republican in the next election.
