Trump & understanding the emerging strategic equation: Q & A - 2

 Col R Hariharan 

Recently, a scribe raised a few questions after POTUS Donald Trump kidnapped Venezualan President Maduro. They largely pertained to the emerging strategic equatio. My answers are in two parts. The first part is available at https://col.hariharan.net/2026/01/trump-and-understanding-emerging.html.  Here are my answers to the rest of the questions:

It was Karl Marx famously said "History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce". He atributed it to GWF Hegel, though Hegel had said “the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” I think George Santayana’s statement "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is more apt to the current confused world situation, after POTUS Donald Trump churned it up with the kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Maduro and prosecuting him in the US, in utter disregard of international norms of conduct of nations. He has ensured American access to the country’s oil resources by promoting a proxy regime there.

To add to global agony, Trump has threatened to take over Greenland and even Canada. His sights right now are on regime change in Iran, dethroning the Ayatollah’s Islamic rule, where popular agitation is gathering momentum due to run away inflation. Trump is threatening to bomb if the Iranian governments use violence against them.

President Trump holds a deeply hostile attitude towards the World Trade Organization (WTO), viewing it as an obstacle to his "America First" trade agenda. He believes it treats the U.S. unfairly. He is poised to slap 500% tariff on India, if it does not stop importing Russian petroleum.

It will be a folly to interpret at Trump’s actions through foreign policy angle only. We should understand his core philosophy. It has three components:

MAGA (Make America Great Again) agenda, transactional realism and populism. MAGA agenda uses “America First” nationalism as its war cry, rejects globalism. It favours a unilateral approach to protect US interests. It adopts Economic Protectionism using tariffs to renegotiate trade deals to protect domestic manufacture. Isolationism is used as a tool to view multilateral alliances like NATO, as an unfair burden on the US. To protect American identity, it focuses on strict immigration controls, treating them purely as a law and order problem.

It is evident Trump uses Transactional Realism in his dealings as explained in his 1987 book ‘The Art of the Deal.’ It involves using business centric logic to governance, viewing political and diplomatic transactions as zero-sum competition. The strategy includes Negotiating from Strength, Flexible Pragmatism based on situations rather than fixed theories, and adopting Machiavellian Calculation focusing on results than traditional moral or accepted norms of behaviour.    

The third component ‘Right Wing Populism’ has its roots in “aggrieved entitlement” as evident from his social media supporters’ writings. Its anti-establishment champions frame their political action as a retribution justice to those affected.

Trump’s style as President uses his authority as though the president has overall control over federal bureaucracy. Legal scholars describe such users as following the Unitary Executive Theory.

His book describes his operational philosophy. It includes thinking big to gain a psychological advantage, using fighting back as a tool when treated unfairly and always using maximum options to avoid struggling with a single approach.  

A few days back, President Trump has ordered the US to withdraw from 66 international organizations, including 31 major UN agencies, in bid to do away with multilateral cooperation. Trump’s executive order directing US departments to end participation in and funding for 31 UN and 35 non-UN organizations "as soon as possible," according to a White House release. These organizations span climate change, conservation, counter-terrorism and human rights, among other fields. India-led International Solar Initiative is one of them. 

In handling Trump, adopting purely diplomatic means are likely to end in failure. Perhaps, reading Roger Fishers’ book “Getting to Yes” to familiarize themselves with business negotiating styles while dealing with Trump.