We all know the slogan. But Donald Trump will not make America great again by waging war on his domestic enemies. Instead Trump’s vengeance campaign threatens the real foundations of American greatness.
The American military, the country’s leading universities, the Federal Reserve, the justice system, the free press, the scientific establishment, even the health of American citizens are all at risk. The president-elect has nominated vengeful crackpots to key positions and promised to let people like Robert F Kennedy Jr “go wild”.
The damage that Trump’s policies could inflict on America will delight the country’s real enemies in Moscow and Beijing. They know from their own histories that when a nation turns on itself, its international power can collapse.
Trump’s Maga shock troops believe that they can only make their country great again by first destroying their internal enemies. Trump has said the “enemy from within” is “more dangerous” than Russia and China. His appointees are willing to turn America’s institutions upside down in the pursuit of vengeance.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee as defence secretary, has written that “sometimes the fight must begin with a struggle against domestic enemies”. In a podcast, he demanded: “Any general, any admiral . . . that was involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programmes or woke shit has got to go.”
Reports are already circulating that Trump plans to establish a “warrior board” empowered to force out senior military officers, replacing them with loyalists. His team are also reportedly considering court-martialling some military leaders for their roles in the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In his first term, Trump was enraged when “his” generals insisted that their loyalty was to the constitution, not to him personally. Senior officers resisted Trump’s demands for the deployment of troops on American streets in the Black Lives Matter protests.
This time Trump will want absolute obedience from his newly promoted corporals and colonels, particularly if he intends to deploy the military to carry out the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. But purging your most senior generals can leave a country vulnerable and its military confused.
America’s intelligence services are also at risk. Trump’s nominee for the job of director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is noted for her sympathy for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin in Russia. She has consistently echoed Russian propaganda, suggesting that Nato expansion was responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that the US was running secret bio-labs inside Ukraine. Her appointment will cause consternation among American allies, Britain foremost among them, which routinely share intelligence with the US.
American science and medicine lead the world. But Trump proposes to put a conspiracy theorist in charge of the health and human services department. Even the Trump-supporting New York Post concluded, after meeting Robert F Kennedy Jr, that he was “nuts on a lot of fronts”. If RFK imposes his vaccine hostility on the US as a whole, he will sow the seeds of future epidemics.
Seven of the world’s top 10 universities are in the US. But America’s institutes of learning are also on Trump’s enemies list. His allies claim that the universities are bastions of “wokeness” and antisemitism. Bill Ackman, a Trump-supporting financier, recently opined that Yale was “no different than Hamas”. The attack on wokeness can be used as a battering ram to try to cow the universities into submission on a wider range of issues. Over time, America could see a threat to the intellectual liberty on which great universities depend.
Press freedom, something that truly distinguishes America from its autocratic rivals, is also menaced. Trump has filed a series of lawsuits against media outlets that have displeased him — a favourite tactic of authoritarian regimes.
Trump regards independent institutions of any sort as a threat. There is widespread speculation that his administration will attempt to sack Jay Powell, head of the Federal Reserve. Powell has reminded journalists that Trump is “not permitted under law” to force him out.
But Trump has his own ideas about the rule of law. Matt Gaetz, his nominee for attorney-general, was under investigation by his Republican colleagues for alleged ethics violations that include having sex with a minor. Gaetz, who has denied the allegations, claims to believe that he, like Trump is the victim of a politicised justice system. Other close confidants of Trump, like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, have recently emerged from prison.
These are angry men, who may be intent on revenge. They could use the justice system to go after their enemies. That will be bad news not just for the individuals who get caught up in the witch hunt, but for the whole country.
American greatness is founded on the rule of law. That is a fundamental reason why foreigners trust American assets and the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If Trump uses the justice system to go after his enemies — and to reward his billionaire cronies — then investors could rightly take fright.
Rather than making America great again, Trump’s assault on US institutions will make America more like Russia and China. Putin and Xi Jinping will benefit. Americans and America’s allies will suffer the consequences.
gideon.rachman@ft.com
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