The election of Donald Trump by the American people last November did not come as a surprise to me. Discontent with economic instability and the prevailing sentiment that migrants were lowering the standard of living of average Americans prevailed over everything else.
Trump easily won the popular vote, despite the fact that, to put it in Politico’s words: “For the first 234 years of the nation’s history, no American president or former president had ever been indicted. That changed in 2023. Over a five-month span, former president Donald Trump was charged in four criminal cases. Together, the indictments accused him of wide-ranging criminal conduct before, during and after his presidency. One of those indictments has now led to the first criminal conviction of a former president; the other three remain pending.”
For the majority of Americans living in the 21st century, electing as president a convicted felon who was found guilty of falsifying documentation in relation to payments to a porn star, presumably for some on the side sexual favours, did not constitute any problem at all.
What did surprise me was the reaction in Malta, where so many people of all ages and different social backgrounds were actually celebrating Trump’s triumph. These included various public personalities, who were salivating all over the web at the convicted felon’s historic win. Never would I have imagined that so many Maltese would subscribe to the philosophy of “mine is bigger than yours” so I decide for you.
The newly elected president soon started putting into practice his philosophy of “I am the greatest” and “Might is right”. In December 2024, he proclaimed that the US should take back the Panama Canal. Brushing aside all notions of history and geography, he also decided that the Gulf of Mexico should forthwith be called ‘Gulf of America’.
Of course, the man is the leader of the most powerful country in the world, so Google America duly complied.
Not content with this, he then turned to Europe and solemnly declared that Greenland should form part of America. This declaration brought about various reactions. The first one was a simple two word “Frump off” by Danish MEP Anders Vistisen in the European Parliament. The second was a mocking satirical petition launched in Denmark, asking for Denmark to buy California. Hundreds of thousands have already signed this mocking petition. The third is a much more serious reaction: Greenland has called a general election for March 11 to test its inhabitants’ will. We wait with bated breath for the result.
Having ruffled feathers in Central America and Europe, Trump then turned his attention to the Middle East, with his proposal to take over Gaza and that all Palestinians in Gaza be deported to Lebanon, Jordan and other countries. This would allow the Great President to turn Gaza into a Los Angeles Middle Eastern Riviera replica, replete with replicas of Bay Watch’s David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.
If might is considered to be right, China would be justified in taking over Taiwan and Israel in occupying Gaza- Arnold Cassola
All this is not enough for the US ‘Líder Máximo’. Last week’s public dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky by Trump and Vice President JD Vance was the saddest televised political ‘reality show’ ever witnessed by hundreds of millions the world over.
There was absolutely no need for Trump and Vance to humiliate the Ukrainian president. The US does not need such shenanigans to assert its political primacy, which is recognised by one and all.
Unfortunately, the message conveyed by Trump’s and Vance’s behaviour is that, since might is right, it is justified to blame and shame the victim while justifying the bullying attitude of the culprit, in this case Vladimir Putin.
The implications of such perverted logic, which subverts the tenets of natural justice, create a terrible precedent.
If might is considered to be right, China would be justified in taking over Taiwan, Israel in occupying Gaza, and so on and so forth. The concept of international rule of law is simply being thrown to the dogs.
It is now time for us Maltese to decide where we stand on this issue. While always respecting our neutrality, we should not
neglect our country’s security. Remember World War II, with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler wanting to take Malta? According to Trump’s logic, why not? Malta was too small to resist Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. After all, even British prime minister Neville Chamberlain had appeased Hitler.
But our ancestors thought otherwise and they resisted. President Franklin Roosevelt’s support for what was then one of the largest maritime military operations then ensured that Malta could continue resisting, a turning point that helped shape the course of the war and world history.
Giving in to Trump’s perverted logic would mean establishing the principle that any aggression against our country by a stronger military power would be justified.
This is definitely not what I want for our country. While we look forward to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, based on honest and mutual respect, we certainly should never condone the bullying logic of ‘might is right’.
Arnold Cassola is chairperson of Momentum.