CHARBONNEAU – America, the world’s whiny superpower

AMERICA IS hard done by, according to President Trump.

He says Canada has taken advantage of them.

“Canada has taken advantage of our country for a long time,” whines the former reality show host.

We have humiliated America, says the president.

Boohoo.

In his fictional account, we are so powerful that we can out-maneuver America.

Trump said the United States has been “a laughingstock for years and years” and he needs to take trade action against its continental neighbours.

“Why would we pay $200 billion a year in subsidies to Canada when they are not a state? You do that for a state, but you don’t do that for somebody else’s country,” Trump says in his wishful thinking of annexation.

A few things are in the way of the blustery man’s grand plan: Canadians and the U.S. constitution, which states that new states can’t be formed when they are already part of another state:

“New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”

Others are pushing poor America around too, according to Trump: “The European Union, of course, was set up to take advantage of the United States.”

We are being unfair to America, whines the president, for not meeting their defense spending obligations, emphasizing that it is “not fair” to American taxpayers.

Such claims by the president are not creditable considering America’s hegemony.

America is the world’s only superpower because of its global reach. America has dominant influence in the spheres of politics, economics, military, culture, and technology.

America spends more on war materiel and personnel than the rest of the world combined. America has 750 military bases in more than 80 countries.

America’s economic hegemony is a result of being the world’s largest economy ($29 trillion).

The U.S. dominates Big Tech – Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon control key digital infrastructure worldwide.

American propaganda is spread though media dominance. An ideal image of America is projected through media such as movies, TV, and music.

It’s a tough sell for the orange man to claim that others are taking advantage of the world’s most powerful nation.

What makes his claim even more unbelievable is that his ego and self-inflated importance are contrary to the claim of being taken advantage of.

No, his projection of America as being a victim is a classic tactic to generate support for his chaos.

The psychology is well understood:

By framing the U.S. as a victim, he attempts to take the higher moral ground. By portraying the U.S. as “losing” or being “humiliated,” he positions himself as the fighter restoring fairness.

“We are like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends,” he said regarding NATO spending.

Trump’s wild claims generate a sense of urgency and crisis, making drastic measures (like tariffs) seem more reasonable.

America may be a laughingstock among nations but not for the reasons King Trump imagines.

David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.