Donald Trump and the American Psyche
Richard David Hames
Jan 22, 2026
I anticipated Donald Trump’s win in 2016 and again in 2024. It was not that testing. When a society produces a ruler who seems to embody its contradictions with such theatrical precision, we must resist the temptation to treat him as an aberration. Donald Trump didn’t descend from some alien realm to disrupt an otherwise harmonious republic. He emerged from within the American experiment itself, a crystallisation of impulses that have coursed through that nation’s veins since its founding. To understand Trump is to understand something profound about the United States—and by extension, about the predatory nature of industrial economism that has metastasised from American shores to dominate our consciousness.
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Where I come from, we have a saying: "Don't be afraid of a dog that barks because it doesn't bite." Following the recent TACO incident at Davos regarding Greenland, one could arguably say the same about Donald Trump. The fact is, he has imperial ambitions, a childish attitude towards rejection, and an agenda he must fulfill before the midterms. However, he also has limits on what he can achieve through coercion. Apparently, some international rules still apply, even to a bully like him—remnant rules of the world order that Carney rushed to put to rest in Davos, including the American assets in European hands. But Canada is not the EU; it is an isolated neighbor to an indebted superpower that, for instance, requires vast amounts of energy to maintain its AI supremacy. And Canada possesses that energy. However, is Canada to the U.S. what Ukraine is to the Russian Federation? Is it breakfast?
OTTAWA– Canada and the Trump administration are locked in a war of words over Prime Minister Mark Carney’s bid to chart a new model for smaller powers to fight back against the U.S.’s aggressive use of its economic and military might.
Hundreds of businesses in Minnesota shut their doors on Friday and thousands of protesters turned out in the frigid cold as part of an economic protest against the immigration crackdown in the state.
When Jamie Dimon took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he criticized the "Davos elite" for their failures and challenged Donald Trump's risky business plans for the world.
During a discussion about whether there exists a “climate of fear” among America's CEOs regarding White House policies, Dimon turned his arrows against the elite audience. His remarks served as a critique of high-level gatherings that, in his view, have failed to improve global circumstances.
A major winter storm is forecast to bring heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain and frigid temperatures to a massive swath of the United States stretching all the way from New Mexico and Texas to parts of New England and the South starting on Friday and continuing through the weekend, according to meteorologists. More than 230 million Americans are expected to be impacted by what is likely to be one of the most significant storms of this winter season.
