By now it should be clear to most rational people that the emperor has no clothes. His naked ambition to rule the world is becoming quite, quite clear. And unless nations stand in unison against him, Emperor Trump will have his way.
Take his massive abuse of power, currently wielded by the cudgel of tariffs. Consider, for example, his treatment of Brazil, as reported by the New York Times.
The United States on Wednesday made good on its threats to apply 50 percent tariffs on Brazil two days ahead of schedule and slapped sanctions on the Supreme Court justice overseeing the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump appears to have two reasons for going after Brazil. First, its president, Lula Da Silva, will not bow down before Rome, openly criticizing Trump's heavy-handed tactics.
“I think it’s important for President Trump to consider: If he wants to have a political fight, then let’s treat it as a political fight,” Mr. Lula told The Times. “If he wants to talk trade, let’s sit down and discuss trade. But you can’t mix everything together.”
Secondly, the Emperor doesn't like the way Brazil is treating his friend, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Mr. Trump is targeting Brazil for what he calls political persecution of his ally, Mr. Bolsonaro, and illegal censorship of conservative voices online. In an executive order on Wednesday, he said actions by Brazil’s government and Supreme Court “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
The Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is facing sanctions.
The Treasury Department sanctions against Justice Moraes would revoke his U.S. visa and freeze any U.S. assets, as well as generally prohibit many financial institutions from doing transactions with him.
The sanctions against Justice Moraes were issued under the Global Magnitsky Act, a measure that is usually meant to punish foreigners accused of serious human-rights violations or corruption.
Interfering with the sovereignty of other nations is apparently now part of the Emperor's remit, and it is now striking closer to home as well. Canada's tentative recognition of Palestine as a state has provoked his anger and consternation.
Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.
Despite other nations, including the U.K., moving to recognize Palestine without trade retaliation, Trump seems to have Canada specifically within his sights.
Trump ... reacted to Carney’s decision by posting on social media: “Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”
Trump’s latest broadside at Canada comes amid other attempts to use tariffs as leverage over the domestic and foreign policies of other nations.
The 20th century saw a broad coalition of countries banding together against the threat of world domination by power hungry, depraved forces. Can the 21st century afford to do anything less?
