Once upon a time — it seems aeons ago but it’s only two years — the United States of America enjoyed global respect as the world’s oldest and most smoothly functioning democracy. It was widely respected for its Constitution which decreed perfect checks and balances against arbitrary use of power by the executive, legislature or judiciary. That was until 2016 and again in 2024 when in moments of national insanity, the well-educated American electorate elected Donald J. Trump as POTUS (President of the United States).

Since then during the past two years, President Trump has recklessly broken every rule of good governance and wrecked the post-World War II international order — engineered by the US — which enabled Planet Earth to enjoy the longest era of continuous prosperity in its history. Among them: he rubbishes the United Nations, IMF, World Bank, NATO, CENTO, SEATO organisations and alliances that enabled at least 80 percent of humanity to experience unprecedented peace, economic development and prosperity. For over 50 years, America was the largest monetary contributor to the UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, Unesco among other international organisations.

Domestically too, Trump has got away with murder of convention and the Constitution. He is the first American president to have earned a fortune while in office by continuing his business dealings through near relations; accepted a huge jet plane as a gift; publicly abused Supreme Court judges; upended world trade by imposing massive trade tariffs; made the US complicit in the genocide in Gaza and unilaterally initiated a shooting war against Iran. Hitherto admired for its great universities, technology innovations and global generosity, contemporary America’s image has been transformed into that of the ugly American by an unchecked and imbalanced individual occupying the country’s highest office.