Trump’s dark legacy

Mohammad Hazrati

Finally, the dark presidential era of Donald Trump has ended. He has left the Whitehouse and America and the rest of the world are now rid of him, although the US’s foreign policy of interventionism will probably not be changed under any new presidency. Trump was a bad leader and an absolute tyrant, not only for America but for many other countries across the world. Except for a very few countries who were his allies, the rest were all counting down the time left to the end of his presidency. That time has now officially passed and Joe Biden has become the  46th   US President. However, Trump has left a long list of shameful legacies, some of which are undoubtedly irreparable but some do need to be reviewed as to whether they can be repaired, rectified or restored to some extent. 
Some of those legacies include the following:
• The travel ban on Muslims;
• The child separation policy at the border and putting them in cages;
• The withdrawal from the Paris agreement;
• The construction of the huge wall on the US-Mexico border;
• The mismanagement and downplaying of the global pandemic;
• Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; 
• Withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO;
• Recognising the Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as the nation’s interim president;
• The raising of tariffs on Chinese goods and productions, which has instigated a trade war with China;
• The notification of the intention to cut ties with the World Health Organization (WHO);
• Withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA);
• The assassination of General Qassem Soleimani 
• and the insurrection at the Capitol. 
However, this dark legacy has also revealed at least two very serious potential threats for the future of the world’s countries. The first is the threat of populist parties or movements, especially right-wing populism, which is on the rise and aims to bring down the established order  a real threat for democracy. As Professor Jan-Werner Müller pointed out, populism has always been a form of identity politics, whilst democracy requires pluralism. In fact, the threat of right-wing populism had been revealed even before Trump took office but, during his presidency, it illustrated how it can be a strong and destructive force for both democracy and human rights. This threat is not only limited to the US as the movement has already been strengthened in many other countries. 
The second threat is having ineffective mechanisms within the international laws to protect country’s legitimate and sovereignty rights. This has clearly been seen in the assassination of one of Iran’s most prominent figures (General Qassem Soleimani) which was carried under the orders of the US and the operation on Iraq’s soil, and the return of US sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. During this time there was no way for Iran to effectively protect its legitimate rights through international institutions with the UN and other international organisations limiting their activities to some simple recommendations. This has shown how a powerful country such as the US has influence over international organisations and to what extent those international organisations are dependent on such a country. Finally, although Trump has finally vacated the oval office his legacy remains and if the world wants to be a safer place these dangerous threats and situations need to be resolved.

Trump has left a long list of shameful legacies, some of which are undoubtedly irreparable but some do need to be reviewed as to whether they can be repaired