On the Hill: The 'America first' crossroads
Cianan Sheekey • US • 2 minute read
Image: Charles Nouwen / Unsplash
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'America first’. Remember that? I’m not sure President Trump does. Yet, for the first time during his second term, he’s under the cosh, staring down the barrel of a lame-duck two years. If the polling comes true, Congress is going blue; so what is Trump to do?
This is a crossroads for the White House. The present administration could knuckle down and produce more sensible policy, amending the agenda in response to a clear popular outcry for a step ideologically left. But leopards don’t change their spots. So while there is hope that a more refined, bipartisan period of politics could bear its head, it is a fool’s hope. Maybe even a halfwit’s.
It's not about chasing government handouts, but a deep-seated desire for a change in the system
Dragging its heels and licking its wounds, foreign policy will only become more central to Trump’s plans, as he retains his presidential freedom on matters abroad. Perhaps it’s time to bunker in. Hailing victory following the newfound Greenland security deal with Denmark, and using the end of the Iran war as a grim carrot for Americans to vote GOP in the midterms, the burden of a Democrat-infused Congress will leave Trump and his Defence Secretary, impeachment-imperilled Hesgeth, with only their private jets and toys of war.
Alongside his involvement in Greenland and the Middle East, the President has also been getting all up in Britain’s business. Whether Irish unification or the Falklands Islands, there is a clear desire, on behalf of the ‘America First’ White House, to be deeply involved in the affairs of other states and intra-state relations, even when that involvement is completely superfluous. Britain seems one of the worst affected. Whether this is a reluctant acceptance of the Republicans’ dwindling domestic influence, a move of sheer arrogance, or some warped bid to win last-gasp favour with the American public, is hard to tell. But none of these outcomes are flattering.
Image: Chad Stembridge / Unsplash
And neither is bribing the electorate. Trump offered every voter $5,000 (around £3,700) if the Republicans managed to retain control of Congress, an explicit attempt at buying votes the likes of which are rarely (if ever) seen. In an epoch where we have the likes of Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani finally installing themselves not only as Democratic Socialist leaders, but political leaders across the spectrum, such flagrant electoralism fails to see the wood for the trees. It’s not about chasing government handouts, but a deep-seated desire for a change in the system, a craving the President’s evidently disingenuous ‘America First’ rationale has failed to satisfy.
For Trump, his system of united government looks set to change. While he’ll no doubt still be galivanting around the world on Air Force One, when it looks like even Texas, a spiritual home of the Republican Party, could (and it’s a big could) be going blue, it’s clear we’re on the precipice of great political change in the US. So long as the Democrats heed the right lessons from the renewal of left-wing American politics, from Cali to the Big Apple, then the President may become nothing more than an elevated Secretary of State.
Though I’m not sure where that leaves Rubio.
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•Published: 20/09/26
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