Ever since Donald Trump began his second administration on 20th of January 2025, there has been a political and bureaucratic upheaval in the United States and rising turmoil in the world order.
President Trump’s second term is drastically different from his first administration when he entered the White House in 2017 and was identified as a new comer to the politics in Washington’s Belt Way. Trump did not have much experience in domestic politics or foreign policy matters and his leadership was less organized, less ideological and less effective.
But his reported efforts to stay on in power after his defeat in the November 2024 election, repeated assertion that the election was stolen and a determined preparation for fighting back to return to the Oval Office through the November 2024 election strengthened his ideological convictions which are quite radical in conventional American politics.
Trump systematically controlled the Republican Party by demonstrating the strength of his MAGA (Make America Great Again) base and was lucky to have a Congress with Republican majority at the very start of his second administration. His victory in the 2024 election was the result of his well-organized campaign and a huge team of his advisors who had a blueprint for his second administration much before the election outcome. So radical were his political ideas that were articulated in Project 2025 that Donald Trump had to disown this project during the election campaign to woo the neutral voters.
But after his election victory, one finds resolute efforts to implement the radical plans through issuance of large number of executive orders from the very moment after his inauguration. His radical policies related to immigration, dismissal of scores of bureaucrats in a number of departments and appointments of “loyal” officers, politicization of universities, ending all programmes of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”, undermining the judiciary, bypassing the US Congress in decision making are widely reported.
Trump’s foreign policies are extremely radical too. By blowing hot and cold on his commitment to US-backed alliances in Europe and Asia, unleashing a tariff war on all allies, strategic partners and neutral countries, his abandonment of Biden Administration’s approaches to wars in Europe and West Asia and his expressed desire to reassert US control over Panama Canal, make Canada the 51st State, buy Greenland or forcefully annex it and his bombardment of IAEA-safeguarded nuclear facilities of an NPT member, Iran are a few instances that have created an impression that the world is more unipolar today than ever before.
Presidency under Trump is practically imperial in its approach and policy making. The separation of power enshrined in the US Constitution is impaired. In areas of foreign and national security affairs, and tariff policy, President Trump so far remains unchallenged. Most major economies, including the EU, Canada, Mexico and Japan have shown willingness to negotiate, rather than confront, with the Trump Administration for tariff relief. And no country wants to antagonize Trump head on. Many heads of states appear hesitant to meet President Trump in the White House after they saw the outcome of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski’s meeting with President Trump and similar outcome of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Washington.
The Corporate America is pressed hard to bring back manufacturing to the US and European Union and Japan have promised to invest about a trillion dollar in the US as part of a deal on tariff. America First policy of Trump threatens to bring down the very global order that his predecessors have built over the last eighty years or so. Trump’s disdain for World Trade Organization is well known. He does not respect the Paris Accord and has withdrawn from the climate deal twice. He has withdrawn the US from the membership of World Health Organization and UNESCO. He is against any form of multilateralism.
There is turmoil in the global order and domestic political scene within the US partly due to Trumpism. The minorities and the immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are living in a state of fear in the US. And the international community is weary of disruptions to the political economy and the trading system in the world.
Many question the durability of Trumpism. Will Trump always triumph in all his radical policies? Will Trumpism survive the second Trump Administration? There are optimists among policy analysts who think that things may change after the 2026 Congressional election and if the Republican majority in the Congress is lost, separation of power will return to decision making. This will circumscribe Trump’s power. Some argue that the controversy surrounding the Epstein File may politically weaken Trump, since his staunch supporters in the MAGA base is demanding the release of the files where President Trump’s name may figure.
Trump is a known survivor of controversies and attacks. There were attempts to impeach him during his first administration, but in vain. He survived an assassination attempt during the 2020 presidential election campaigns. There were reports about his desire to contest for the presidency for a third term against the Constitutional restrictions, which unnerved many people in the US.
But even if Trump steps down after the end of his second term, Trumpism may not leave the American political scene with him. The present Republican Party seems to be under robust control of President Trump and his close political associates. Some of them have changed their earlier policy positions and gravitated towards Trump’s ideas. Some of them aspire to assume the leadership of the party after him. Trump may continue to be an influential Republican leader after his term in office ends. The world needs to prepare itself for Trumpism even after Donal Trump exits the White House in early 2029.