By
Tarik Kiley
With the recent attack on Iran, President Donald Trump is revealing the truth of his “America First” foreign policy. While he remains a White Supremacist, he is not actually an isolationist. In fact, his actions suggest that he is an imperialist. The desire to annex Greenland, the removal of the leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and now the violence against Iran all suggest that he is attempting to expand his power beyond the level of the republic into an empire.
Here, it is not so much his perversion of the idea of manifest destiny, which saw the United States expanding its territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, as defined in 1845, but it is the violence that Trump is using that is concerning. As Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump oversees a powerful military, while his unhinged violence, including murdering American citizens in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, has now expanded to the global stage.
Perhaps we need to examine some other evil dictatorships in history to put it all in perspective?
In the 1970s, Pol Pot, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, attempted to create a communist utopia in which all citizens had the same material wealth. While it may have seemed to be a noble idea at the time, he enforced this idea by turning everyone into farmers and abolishing the use of money. He also murdered anyone who opposed this idea, particularly intellectuals such as doctors and teachers. This led to an intense genocide and continued until the country of Vietnam intervened in 1979.
Now, while Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be a communist, he does have an adversarial relationship with intellectuals. From talk show hosts to Ivy League schools to journalists, Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t appreciate those who think critically or apply intellectual thought to criticize his actions. He has even said in so many words that smart people don’t like him.
Now let’s continue our deep dive into history. From 1933-1945, under the rule of Adolph Hitler, Nazi Germany orchestrated a genocide against the Jewish people. Hitler and the Nazis “othered” the Jews and ended up murdering 6 million of them. This draws a parallel to Trump’s treatment of Latino people. Trump has built concentration camps like those that Hitler created and has singled out Latino people for persecution based on his racist beliefs.
Other examples of evil dictatorships in history, include Stalin’s USSR, King Leopold II of Belgium’s Congo Free State, Maoist China, and Idi Amin’s Uganda. These dictatorships saw widespread famine, as in Maoist China, forced labor, as under Stalin and Leopold, genocide and ethnic cleansing, as under Leopold, and Idi Amin. But the common denominator here is violence against the people.
What does this history mean for the present day USA?
In the United States of America, we have been taught that freedom is a virtue, that the people have rights, and that political violence should be shunned. Additionally, the public education system in the USA has generally prepared the American people for full participation in a functioning democracy. Our civics courses are filled with these notions. The idea of an evil dictatorship is anathema to our training to participate in democracy.
One example of this comes from former President Ronald Reagan’s speech on the “evil empire,” originally delivered in 1983. Ronald Reagan, in this speech, while acknowledging his faith, says, “We need your help to keep us ever mindful of the ideas and the principles that brought us into the public arena in the first place. The basis of those ideals and principles is… a commitment to freedom and personal liberty…” He goes on to suggest that faith and freedom go hand in hand, seeming to suggest that morality is essential to the preservation of freedom. Reagan says, “if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Reagan acknowledges the need for the rule of law and the preservation of the institutions of the United States of America. While he does go into conservative talking points, he also makes an important distinction. Reagan says, “Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle of minority citizens…for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war, is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.”
Reagan’s Republican Party was very different from Trump’s Republican Party. Reagan spoke against racism while Trump upholds racism. While Reagan may not have been completely anti-racist, he spoke in a time of moderation. He cites morality as a basis for opposing racism. He cites the idea of neighborly love. He doesn’t encourage hate groups. He denounces them, and he affirms the American Dream.
As Reagan shifts to a comparison between the USSR and the USA, he points to the belief in God and suggests that the morality that stems from it is what makes America strong. This suggests that the murders and oppression that came about in the USSR would not have been accepted in the United States of America. Indeed, Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party and presidency were very different from Trump’s. While Trump has sought global domination, Reagan denounced the ambitions of global domination in the then-USSR.
This suggests that Reagan had the fortitude not to lead the USA into imperialism.
It is as if Reagan is saying that the USA is a moral nation. While speaking of the USSR, he goes on to say, “Let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.” There is a very clear distinction here between good and evil. This intriguing speech notes that seizing territory and waging aggressive wars isn’t moral. It is morality and the love of God that stops evil.
Let’s stop here. From Reagan’s speech on the evil empire, you can discern the idea that he sees the USA as a moral nation. He clearly sees right versus wrong and has decided to put the USA on the right side of history. While he is a flawed human being, his morality and the morality of the USA are made clear.
On the flip side is Trump’s USA. Trump’s USA has no moral compass. Trump takes bribes, murders citizens, uses racism against Latinos, and generally has no appreciation for anything Godly. Trump has no respect for the rule of law and sees all his dealings through the lens of power and leverage. Again, Trump’s Republican Party seems to fit the description of the “evil empire” as Godless. Trump’s USA is truly dystopian, with no American Dream for the people of America, and no mercy for the people of the world.
Words and Movements 
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