Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). On 20 January 2017, following his first election as President of the United States, Donald Trump delivered an Inaugural Address that was quite something, but was soon forgotten. Having previously reiterated his ‘America First’ slogan on several occasions, he addressed the people of the United States and promised, with his characteristic naivety and political simplemindedness: ‘We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the American People.’
Addressing both those present and the power elites who had stayed away from the inauguration in protest, he declared, to their silent indignation: “For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.”[1]
Trump’s announcement to end ‘American carnage’ deserves particular attention, and he continued: ‘We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world – but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nation to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth.’ Then, later on: ‚The Bible tells us, „how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”
Present were former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama, as well as numerous saturated and mutually entangled politicians, business magnates and media representatives. They had to endure Trump’s humiliating tirade, for standing before them was an American billionaire who had just been elected to the highest office in the US and was boldly asserting his claim to power.
In the media, which had been attacking Trump for months, his inaugural address was met with comments full of hatred and malice. “The ugly grimace of democracy,” ran the headline in Stern; “Trump seeks enmity,” declared the Süddeutsche Zeitung without a second thought; “Bitter, boastful and banal”, wrote the British Guardian; the Neue Zürcher Zeitung stated “A risky experiment“. Der Spiegel assessed Trump’s speech as a “declaration of indecency” and so on in this sense.[2]
The fact that a new era in world politics was about to begin at this point went unrecognized among the European elites, who remained tied to the networks of Clinton-Obama-Biden politics – to the detriment of Europe, and Germany in particular. The then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had already called Trump a “hate preacher” during the election campaign, and Chancellor Angela Merkel had vehemently championed the Russophile rival candidate Hillary Clinton. The ARD Tagesschau news program reported on global demonstrations against the new US president and that Hillary Clinton thanked the demonstrators “for standing up for ‘our values’.”[3] At least the Washington Post stated: “Trump vows to end ‚American carnage“.
Trump in the web of warmongers and Wall Street
Yet Trump, who turned against the deep state of his predecessors in order to push through his political agenda, soon found himself ensnared in the web of the Wall Street financial elite who had backed his campaign. In his first term, he was surrounded by hardliners such as the fundamentalist evangelical Vice-President Mike Pence, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, and the ‘architect’ of the Iraq War, John Bolton, as National Security Advisor.[4] In his second term, it is warmongers such as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Hegseth, an evangelical nationalist and former major in the Army National Guard, stated at the National Council of Young Israel in 2018: “Zionism and Americanism are the front lines of Western civilization and freedom in today’s world.”[5] Former Senator Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, advocates an aggressive policy towards Cuba and is a professing Catholic, having been a Mormon in his youth and, for a time, a Baptist. He runs a law firm as well as the consultancy Rubio Consulting and is a partner in the consultancy Florida Strategic Consultants.
Advised and, in many of his decisions, apparently also steered by such prominent ministers and other influential figures, Donald Trump has strayed ever further from his original goals of seeking friendship with all nations, maintaining peace and standing up for the welfare of the American people.
Even in his second inaugural address on 20 January 2025, Donald Trump still promised: “We will be the envy of every nation,” and he repeated his accusations from 20 January 2017: “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens…” According to Trump, this was to change immediately: „From this moment on, America’s decline is over“. And later in his speech: „We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end – and perhaps most importantly, the wars we will never get into”. „My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier”. „America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the whole world.“
However, Trump also said he would put the US first, tax other countries to enrich our citizens, and he invoked American exceptionalism once again. God had “saved” him from an assassination attempt “to make America great again“ and with his inauguration a “golden age has just begun“ for the US.
Trump’s politics of chaos
Although Donald Trump has repeatedly turned against his predecessors in his inaugural speeches and in the period since, he nevertheless upholds the imperial claims of the US and makes this unmistakably clear to the world in his boisterous manner. In the first year of his second term, he has announced rigorous measures in breach of international law; for example, he intends to punish the BRICS states and annex Canada, Greenland and Panama.[6] He has imposed new sanctions, levied high import tariffs – leading to major problems in supply chains – and is demanding that European NATO member states increase their defense spending to five per cent of gross domestic product, a target that cannot be met without substantial cuts to budgets for social welfare, education, culture, science and so on.
Furthermore, like Germany, it supplies Israel with weapons and condones the genocide of the Palestinians. It orchestrated the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and instigated air strikes on Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is waging a proxy war against Iran with the support of the US, the UK and France.[7] In June 2025, he supported Israel’s attack on Iran (the ‘Twelve-Day War’), which violated international law, and on 28 February 2028, he launched a murderous war against Iran alongside Israel.
Furthermore, Donald Trump is causing chaos on stock markets and in the economy worldwide. It cannot be ruled out that he is doing so to confuse his opponents and to conceal, delay or avert an impending collapse of the US financial and economic system. He regards China as his main adversary, though he clearly wishes to avoid a military confrontation that could escalate into a multi-front war or even a nuclear conflict. Instead, he is relying on weakening China’s economic power through isolation, high tariffs and sanctions.[8]
On the other hand, Trump’s willingness to engage in dialogue with Russia and the end of the constant provocations, which his predecessor Joseph Biden had taken to extremes, are to be viewed positively. Furthermore, the initial departure from the war policy of his predecessors and their advisors broke down entrenched structures, and real opportunities had opened up for the development of a new international security and peace architecture; however, these were not seized upon by European government politicians and the media, who remain entangled in US and NATO networks, to the detriment of Europe, and Germany in particular.
Trump seems to have realized some time ago that, for the plans to appropriate Russian resources and contain China, an understanding with Russia was preferable to a war with Russia. Hence the negotiations on the Ukraine conflict and the gradual rejection of Zelenskyy, whom Trump’s predecessor administrations had positioned against Russia. Apparently, he intended to use ‘deals’ to achieve the outcome that his predecessors had been unable to secure through their policy of aggression.
The Iran War
Trump’s greatest mistake was probably the US’s entry, alongside Israel, into the war against Iran. Since then, his statements have become even more confused than before, and he vacillates between increasingly aggressive posturing and cautious concessions. Boastfully, he declared that “death, fire and fury” would befall Iran, which would never again be a nation: “We will break their bones.”[9] And revealingly: “…To be honest, I’d love to take the oil in Iran.”[10]
His Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, acts with even greater directness and an extremely hypocritical fanaticism, waging an “American crusade” against Iran. In an interview with CBS News on 8 March 2026, he said that US troops were being supported by a “higher power”. The troops “need a connection to their almighty God at times like these”. At a press conference at the Pentagon, Hegseth quoted from Psalm 144: “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.”[11] The extremism of US policy and the resulting global chaos are reaching devastating proportions.
Trump evidently shares the views of his Secretary of War; perhaps he, too, is now on the path to senile dementia. In his address to the nation on 1 April 2026, he threatened Iran: “We will send them back to the Stone Age, where they belong.”[12] In response, the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Majid Mousavi, replied proudly and confidently on the social network X on 2 April 2026: “It is you who are driving your soldiers to their graves, not Iran, which you wish to throw back into the Stone Age. Your Hollywood illusions have distorted your thinking so much that, with your insignificant 250-year history, you are threatening a civilization that is more than six thousand years old.”[13]
On 4 April, Trump announced that “all hell would break loose” for the Iranians if they did not agree to a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz.[14] But Tehran initially rejected negotiations; instead, drone attacks followed on Israel, several Gulf states and US bases in the Gulf region. It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump has underestimated Iran’s resilience,[15] but that he is also attempting to extricate himself from this untenable situation without losing face – though it is highly doubtful whether he will succeed. It looks more likely that he has been weakened and will not recover from his failure on Iran.
Outlook
Donald Trump has alienated all his allies and amassed a huge mountain of debt. And he has strengthened the resolve of the US’s adversaries. With its attacks on US bases, Iran has created a new strategic situation: anyone who supports the US in its illegal campaigns by tolerating its military bases must expect consequences.
The result will be that even more countries than before will turn away from the US and its egocentric policies that violate international law. China’s missiles are now aimed at US bases in the Pacific, and Russia’s at military bases in Europe, particularly in Germany. In doing so, Trump has achieved the opposite of what he originally set out to do – there can be no question of peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the world any longer.
It is becoming increasingly clear: what is currently unfolding is sad, shameful and appalling. But it is neither coincidence nor fate. The current escalating global conflicts, driven by Western financial and economic elites, represent a fundamental clash between the collective West and the Global South, including Russia. The way out would be BRICS, and it is to be hoped that Europe’s leading politicians will finally realize that there is no alternative to turning away from the destructive policies of the US and NATO.
Sources and notes
1 Quoted as in Welt Netzreporter, 20 January 2017,www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMfGfhUNyLw (3 April 2026)
2 Stern, Press reactions to Trump: The ugly grimace of democracy, 21 January 2017,www.stern.de/politik/ausland/pressestimmen-zu-trump—– angeberisch-und-banal– 7292694.html
3 ARD Tagesschau, “Rebellion in Pink”, 22 February 2017,www.tagesschau.de/ausland/anti-trump-proteste-107.html
4 See Wolfgang Bittner, ‘The Conquest of Europe by the USA – A Strategy of Destabilisation, Escalation and Militarisation’, expanded new edition, Westend 2017, p. 222 ff.
5 Cited as https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Hegseth , footnote 63 (2 April 2026)
6 See www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/groenland-daenemark-unabhaengigkeit-usa-trump-100.html . It is now reported that the US financial investor BlackRock has taken control of the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.
8 See Wolfgang Bittner, “Geopolitics at a Glance: Germany, USA, EU, Russia”, Hintergrund Verlag, Berlin 2025, p. 139 ff.
9 www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqZoSqnm5Uo (2 April 2026)
10 Cited as at www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/fuenfte-kriegswoche-trump-prueft-us-bodenoffensive-und-griff-nach-irans-oel/100212934.html
11 Cited as https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/13/politics/hegseth-iran-israel-war-american-crusade-analysis
12 Cited as www.tagesschau.de/ausland/amerika/trump-rede-nation-102.html
13 Cited as https://freeassange.tech/der-nahe-osten/269469-liveticker-us-israel-krieg-gegen/ , 17:53
14 See www.zdfheute.de/politik/ausland/trump-usa-iran-krieg-drohung-ultimatum-strasse-von-hormus-100.html
15 See Peter Hänseler, https://forumgeopolitica.com/de/artikel/ein-lgenbaron-verkehrt-die-welt-und-verliert
