The USA, under Donald Trump, is no longer a liberal state and the champion of a free world. Trump puts the clock back. His MAGA project, the policy of 'America First,' and the unilateral erratic decisions that disrupt world order are going to isolate and weaken America.

Trump took the oath as the 47th President of America for a second term. Excerpts from his inaugural address: "For American citizens, January 20, 2025, is Liberation Day. It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world."

He signed 89 executive orders in a short span that will have far-reaching consequences, not just for America but the world as well. Some of the most controversial orders are Withdrawing the United States from the WHO, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, Establishing the President's Department of Government Efficiency, Ending Birthright Citizenship, Strict Enforcement of Immigration Laws, Cutting Off Foreign Aid, and Pardons Related to January 6 riots. Trump made contentious statements that America would take over the Panama Canal and Greenland, make Canada the 51st state of the US and that there would be reciprocal trade tariffs. These announcements made the world leaders worried about the emerging new America posing a threat to international peace and security.

Trump picked up his trusted loyalists and appointed them to important positions in his administration. He demands absolute personal loyalty, not professional norms. He made Elon Musk - the richest man in the world who made a huge contribution to his election campaign - Head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In the name of efficiency and cost-cutting, the DOGE is arbitrarily terminating thousands of employees working for the Federal government, creating resentment and backlash across America, though some Federal judges are ordering their reinstatement. A Judge observed: "It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employees and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie."

On March 13, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle seven federal agencies, including the Voice of America. In addition to Voice of America, the Agency for Global Media funds Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. The organisation, with a budget of roughly 270 million dollars and more than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages, with a weekly audience of more than 361 million people. The Trump administration is finalising a three-level restriction that would curtail entry into the United States by citizens from 43 countries: the 'red list' of 11 countries, the 'orange list' of 10 countries, and the 'yellow list' of 22 countries. These are very drastic changes that will alter the landscape of America.

What we witness in America is the backsliding of democracy. The universities are targeted to curb dissent and free speech. More than 50 universities are investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump's campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes that the officials claim exclude white and Asian American students. The Education Department warned schools and colleges that they would lose federal government grants over alleged "race-based preference" in admission, scholarships or any aspect of student life. The universities are protesting against the scrapping of the DEI and denying educational opportunities to the blacks and the underprivileged. The visas of international students critical of Trump are being revoked, and the students are deported. There are more than a million foreign students studying in the US who pay higher tuition fees than local students, and losing them would mean many colleges and universities going out of business.

Incidentally, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar, in his article Anti-DEI Trump may fuel rise in hate speech here in Sunday Times of India, March 16, 2025, says that the "rising hate speech in India is going to be amplified multifold by the abandonment of DEI norms in the US." Earlier, under Joe Biden, social media platforms were under pressure to check hate speech. Fact-checking had become integral to their operations. Now Trump has issued directives against DEI and called Biden's regulations on hate speech "censorship". The social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter), are delighted that they are no longer required to weed out hate speech. No guarantee applies to crowdsourcing, which is a form of majoritarianism.

The Washington-based research group India Hate Lab's recent report reveals that hate speech against minorities in India shot up by 74% in 2024, from 668 incidents to 1,165 (over three per day); UP (242), Maharashtra (210), and MP (98) ranked top among the states for hate speech events. These three states, where BJP and its allies rule, collectively accounted for 47% of the total hate speech events in 2024. And "with the new mood in the US and end of supposed censorship by social media, hate speech in India looks set to get worse."

According to Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary, "Trump does not see India as a big power in the same league as China and Russia." He is cosying up with the two authoritarian dictatorships once considered irreconcilable adversaries. "It is not eccentricity alone which explains Trump's sense of affinity with Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China. His readiness to do deals with them is the consequence of ideological affinity…the US, Russia and China are great powers by virtue of being the largest countries area-wise."

Trump does not consider Modi his equal, though public posturing is that they are friends. This was evident from the manner in which he treated Modi when he visited the White House on February 13. Trump openly talked about reciprocal trade tariffs in his presence at the media conference. And the manner in which he deported the Indian illegal immigrants' hand-cuffed and chained in military planes, is a humiliating and discriminatory treatment by all accounts. Modi doesn't protest. On March 9, speaking at the Oval Office, Trump boasted: "India charges us massive tariffs, massive you can't even sell anything in India ...it is restrictive. They have agreed, by the way. They want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody's finally exposing them for what they have done." India should be careful in dealing with Trump and should not be seen as being used as a pawn in the power game.

Modi is not strong in dealing with China either. His soft peddling with China is obvious when he says, "that being neighbours, difference and disagreement between India and China are natural, just like in a family." This is in spite of the fact that China continues to occupy Indian territory in Ladakh and build huge military camps and infrastructure all along the borders across the LAC, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh. The display of bonhomie between the two countries is a camouflage. The Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, says that "on April 1, China and India will commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations ...the two countries will achieve a dragon-elephant tango through mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual trust, mutual accommodation and mutual accomplishment." These were the principles of the Panchsheel Agreement that Chow En Lai signed with Pandit Nehru in 1954, which was repeatedly violated by China. China is still not willing to restore the status quo ante 2020 in Galwan Valley, while it has the audacity of giving lectures on 'mutual trust' and 'mutual accommodation'.

India should be assertive and conduct its foreign relations from a vantage position. India is a great ancient civilisation that should not be subdued. It is important to recall that when Indira Gandhi visited America in 1971 to garner support against the genocide in Bangladesh that driven out some 10 million people seeking refuge in India, President Nixon and his NSA Henry Kissinger threatened to retaliate if India intervened in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The Iron Lady of India ignored the threat, displayed indomitable courage and despatched the Indian army to Dacca to liberate Bangladesh, securing India the greatest military victory in her history, despite the fact the American 7th Fleet with nuclear warheads was stationed in the Bay of Bengal.

Trump is trying to enforce a ceasefire in the Israeli-Gaza conflict and the Russian-Ukraine war. Having armed Israel to the teeth and ensuring the total destruction of the Gaza Strip, reducing it to uninhabitable rubble, he now wants to take over Gaza, asking its 2 million people to leave their homeland and settle in other countries. The genocide that Israel carried out in Gaza is a crime against humanity, and it should be held accountable. Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. It wants a ceasefire on its terms. It captured large swaths of Ukrainian territory and wants the international community to recognise these territories as its own. And Trump is acquiescing. Russia had earlier annexed Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There can never be lasting peace if terms of peace are dictated. The nations must learn from history. Nazism and Hitler were the products of the harsh terms imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to end World War I, which eventually led to World War II.

The USA is in turmoil. Pratap Bhanu Mehta says, 'America is at a risk of descending into authoritarian nihilism.' What is nihilism? In his lecture on 'German Nihilism', delivered in 1941, Professor Leo Strauss defined "nihilism as the rejection of the principles of civilisation... the destruction of everything, a desire to destroy the present world ... a desire not accompanied by any clear conception of what one wants to put in its place." This is what Trumpism is about.

Raphael Glucksmann, a French politician and a member of the European Parliament, has called for the return of the Statue of Liberty, criticising the US under Trump for abandoning the democratic values it once represented. Speaking at his party's Place Publique convention on March 18, 2025, he criticised America's shift in global stance. He argues the Statue of Liberty no longer represents America. The Statue of Liberty, given by France in 1886 as a symbol of shared democratic values, is now seen by Glucksmann as misaligned with present-day American policies: "We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty.' We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it."

What a historical coincidence that the two largest democracies - India and America - are being governed by the two powerful, ambitious politicians – Narendra Modi and Donal Trump- the autocrats who pursue divisive political agendas to capture power, leaving behind the liberal democratic tradition of 75 and 250 years of their countries respectively. Both of them were elected by the people, just as Hitler. These two great countries had the fortune of having benevolent enlightened leaders and visionary statesmen - Abraham Lincoln and Jawaharlal Nehru - who unified their countries, vastly diverse, and laid a strong foundation for liberal democracy. Yet, the rise of far-right Modi and Trump in India and America is a reminder that democracy is fragile even in these countries and not safe and secure in the world. And we should have the wisdom to realise that without democracy and social and economic justice, the world can never have lasting peace and security.