AMERICA IN RELATIVE DECLINE: A CRITICAL TRANSITION PHASE

It’s been 100 days since Trump began his second term as president. In American political culture, this "first 100 days" is often seen as an early benchmark—a glimpse of what’s to come.

Unfortunately for Trump 2.0, this period has been marked not by bold achievements, but by economic missteps and global miscalculations.

His renewed obsession with tariffs has spooked markets. Nearly 10% of U.S. stock value vanished in just three months—not because of a real crisis, but because of manufactured uncertainty. His promise to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza remains unfulfilled, exposing the gap between campaign rhetoric and governing reality.

Some have gone as far as to call Trump an agent of sabotage—perhaps even a tool of Moscow. But such simplistic conspiracies ignore a far more complex truth: America's decline is not about who occupies the Oval Office. It’s structural, systemic, and inevitable.

Even under Biden or Harris, the fundamentals wouldn’t change. The world is recalibrating itself, and America is no longer the unquestioned centre.

The truth is, America is in relative decline—a phase where power, influence, and prestige are still present, but diminishing in global proportion.

From a 40% share of global GDP in the 1960s, the U.S. today holds about 25%. The dominance of the dollar is also waning—from 71% of global reserves in 2000, down to 58% today. These aren't catastrophic drops, but they are indicators of a shifting multipolar world.

Trump’s strategy of economic coercion through tariffs has fallen flat. Many countries have learned to live without American patronage. China, while facing its own challenges, is often viewed as the lesser evil. The U.S. playbook—once so dominant—is losing traction, especially among long-time allies like Japan and the UK.

But this decline is not new. It began subtly during Obama’s administration. America's global leadership has faced increasing resistance—from the failure to prevent allies joining China's AIIB, to the ineffectiveness of sanctions against Russia.

What makes Trump’s current term alarming isn't the decline itself, but the reckless acceleration of it. His disdain for alliances, lack of coherent policy, and overconfidence in outdated economic tools may well cost the U.S. whatever edge it still retains.

And yet, decline does not equal collapse.

America has reinvented itself before—after Vietnam, after Watergate, even after the malaise of the 1970s. The rise of Reagan proved that revival is possible. But it takes visionary leadership and societal cohesion—two things that seem increasingly scarce.

In the end, America’s fate lies not in Trump or Biden, but in its ability to readapt, realign, and redefine its role in the new world order.

#GlobalPolitics #AmericanDecline #MultipolarWorld #Geostrategy #LeadershipCrisis

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