Source: Liberal Currents
by Liam Connell
“Trump and his government are not nineteenth century imperialists, because nineteenth century imperialism operated within a diplomatic system that allowed those empires to function. It was a system of racial supremacy and ingrained classism, but it was also a system that was designed to prevent conflicts between great powers. There were avenues for imperialists to signal to other states what they considered to be their national interests; there were diplomatic summits whose decrees were respected. There was, and this is crucial, an appeal to ideologies of European civilisation and capitalism that both justified the depredations of empire and theoretically limited them. … Trumpist foreign policy is born out of a failure to understand the current global system. It desires to defend and expand American interests without having to pay attention to the meaningless liberal, feminine niceties of modern diplomacy.” (05/14/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-most-childish-imperialism/