Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has delivered a damning early verdict on President Donald Trump's second term, which he believes is leaving the United States "distrusted, friendless, and weak." Writing on his Substack page, Krugman takes aim at Trump and X owner Elon Musk's efforts to illegally dismantle USAID and other government agencies, which he argues is a massive setback for American soft power worldwide.
After walking through the ways that the United States assured its dominance after World War II by building an international network of alliances and trade partnerships that made the nation the most prosperous on the planet.
"In less than three weeks Musk, Trump, and their minions have taken a wrecking ball to the foundations of the Pax Americana," Krugman writes. "As I said, foreign aid is no longer a major part of US spending. But the abrupt demolition of USAID, apparently in response to right-wing conspiracy theories and the claim that the agency was full of 'radical-left Marxists who hate America,' didn’t just leave millions relying on American aid in the lurch. It said that America doesn’t believe in helping people in need, and considers anyone who does suspicious. So much for moral authority."
Krugman also slams Trump for threatening trade wars with Canada and Mexico, and for making threats to take Greenland by force if Denmark does not agree to sell the territory.
"All of this makes us distrusted and friendless," he warns. "It also makes us weak, because America needs allies even more now than it did during the Cold War."
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