Trump presidency claims first victim as Canada PM resigns

In Latin America, Trump has proposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America. In the stormy waters of the Arctic circle, he wants to annex Greenland, a Danish dependency to the US. In Panama, defined by the 51 mile Panama canal, through an isthmus connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Mr Trump wants the canal back. Panama’s other recent claim to fame, the Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents leaked in 2016 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists detailing the murky world of secret investments by the global ruling elite, painted an image of Panama as a haven of organised lawlessness, triggering anti-money laundering legislation, identification of class of people as “politically exposed persons”. 

In Korea and Europe, Mr Trump is campaigning for more contributions to vast defence alliances, Nato being the biggest, from other members. In the United Kingdom, the populist right wing politicians, especially from the Reform Party, who had the third biggest vote share in the July general election but won just five seats in Parliament, is giving the Labour party a big headache. A slowdown in the economy had the UK officially in a recession in the last quarter of the year. A huge parliamentary majority has been of little help to the Labour party, pressed on the right by Conservatives, and far right by the Reform Party. The UK would shudder to usher in a generation of rightist radicals who are flexing their muscles everywhere else in Western Europe; France, Italy and Germany where the left-wing coalition collapsed in December.

In Canada, the ruling Liberals disagreed on how to handle Trump, who has referred to Canada as America’s 51st state. About 80 percent of Canada’s population lives within 100 miles of the US-Canada border. Election day is promising mayhem for them. The same fears over illegal immigration are being felt in the developed world. Ghetto Europe is growing at the expense of both cosmopolitan and wealthy Europe. The immigration debate is also complicated as its story of earlier arrivals versus later arrivals. The vanguards of strong borders in the House of Commons is a debate dominated by immigrant politicians. The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, is a British Nigerian and former Business Minister. So is the Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, who has roots in Uganda. In the United States, Hispanics swung very sharply towards Trump even after a comedian at his campaign event referred to Puerto Rico a US dependency, as a “dump”.

The new Trump presidency will upend the lengthy cohabitation by intellectuals on the left and the right in the new world order defined by international institutions like the United Nations and Nato.

Mr Trump may force Ukraine to negotiate away big territory to Russia in exchange for a peace treaty. In South Korea, political uncertainty may lead to a rethinking of the US-South Korea alliance that vaulted Korea from poverty behind countries like Uganda to the 11th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of more than $1 trillion.

The Indian sub-continent has a different moment, its arrival at the high grail of American politics. Two Indian Americans, runner-up Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy featured in the Republican primaries. Vice President Kamala Harris too famously had an Indian mother. Mr Trump is banging more tables. His FBI director nominee is Kash Patel. So India will not simply shrink in the background happy to have cordial, if not just warm relations with the United States.

Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney-At-Law and an advocate.
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