Great joy was witnessed in America as Donald Trump took the oath of office for a second term and became the 47th president of the United States of America on Monday, January 20, 2025. There is new hope among Trump’s supporters about the future of the country.
Trump has made them many promises, the two major ones being an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and the deportation of millions of illegal migrants in America to their home countries. The war and the illegal migrants are both a huge burden on America’s resources, and are reportedly bleeding the country.
Throughout his campaign, Trump expressed his resolve to end the war, asserting that he would ever have allowed it to start had he been president. That is because he has long known about the backers of the war that are the players of the Deep State. Ukraine president Vladimir Zelensky’s David versus Goliath narrative, that won him worldwide sympathy and support when the war started, has been exposed as false.
As it turns out, the American Deep State, consisting of the Industrial Military Complex and government officials at multiple levels with vested interests, are behind the war. The more Trump challenged the Deep State over the last five months of his campaign, the more they worked on entangling America in the war. By now, it is common knowledge that but for the backing of the Deep State, Ukraine would have been a mere effigy of military power, not the formidable force against the mighty Russia it turned out to be.
The war was nearing an end in the April of 2023 with a decisive victory for Russia, but is dragging on even two years later. Typical of Trump’s easy going style, he has expressed confidence in his ability to facilitate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but even he would know it is not going to be a cake walk.
Although the Democratic Party-fed propaganda makes it out that Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin have strong personal ties, Putin thinks it is a cruel joke, as he underlines that the worst American sanctions against Russia were during Trump’s first presidency 2017-21. By deciding not to send any Russian representative to Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony, Putin is making a point. He is letting Trump know that Russia would not settle for any peace deal that hurts the Russian defence and security over which it went to war in the first place .
Putin is a tough leader, but Trump is no push-over either. For proof, you only need look how his “There will be hell to pay” threat to Hamas has worked. A truce is being worked out, Israel has already released 200 Palestinians arrested from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Hamas has also released two female Israeli hostages of those it has been holding since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and there is hope about the rest being released.
There is the same hope about an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. That is because Trump is the only president in recent history to have talked about the devastation, the economic cost of other people’s wars and the human tragedy that a war entails. In his inaugural speech, Trump gave a clear message: “ We will measure our success ( military) not only by the battles we win, but by the wars we stop and the wars we don’t get into.”
He finds the Russia-Ukraine war particularly wasteful from the viewpoint of America that has given 65.9 billion U.S. dollars in military aid to Ukraine (until Jan 9, 2025, as per official figures). Trump has also expressed sorrow at the huge loss of lives—much larger than what is being officially old by the two countries, he said.
The American presidents before Trump justified even the entirely un-justifiable wars in haloed terms– of “saving democracy and the values on which the free world is based.” And all of them lent new passion to the self-styled idea that the U.S. is an epitome of noble power, that it had a birth right to change, topple, dismantle and destroy other countries’ governments that did not fall within the so-called American political ideals.
Trump is the first president who wants America to lay off the conflict between other countries, the first one to talk about off- loading America of the cost of other countries’ wars, and the very first to demystify the weapons of war. In a recent interview, he talked about the massive destruction and loss of human lives the modern weapons can cause, and emphasised their use for defence and as deterrent (s).
Catch any other American or world leader talk about the possession, acquisition or development of deadly weapons without his chest swelling up with pride or a glint in the eye, or with even a moment’s reflection about the devastation they cause. Trump has done that.
In a way, Trump’s background of business rather than politics, his fondness of a life of glitter and gold ( literally, in his case, as the gold-laden Trump Tower in New York reflects) and his love of the family—he has created a large one– drive his world view. He knows that a good business (other than arms trading) thrives on peace and normalcy. On top of that, Trump is passionate about building and architecture, which makes him inimical to seeing destruction. His personal, practical and positive approach to the issue, and his deep desire to be a “peace-maker” might just work in bringing about a peace deal.
On the home front, the deportation of “millions of illegal migrants” and the elimination of drug cartels are atop Trump’s agenda. The process has already started under the new Homeland Security chief, Thomas Homan. A steely guy, he has been a career official at the Department of Homeland Security since Ronald Reagan was president. Homan is expected to use an iron hand to deal with this issue.
In the many media interviews given on the subject, he said, he already knows the way around the non-cooperative and resistant Democratic Party state governors and senators, who have allowed the flooding of illegal migrants into designated “sanctuary cities.” He said he was fully informed about the hideouts of the criminal gangs that are running a thriving business of illegal immigration. Going by his record and statements, and the backing of Trump, who declared a “National Emergency on the Southern Borders” in his inaugural speech, Homan seems set to achieve his goals.
The Homeland Security Chief has also given a chilling warning to the drug cartels of Mexico operating in America.
“ You smuggled enough fentanyl across this country to kill 148,000 young Americans. You have killed more Americans than every terrorist organisation combined in the world. That’s why when President Trump gets back in office, he is going to designate you as a terrorist organisation. He is going to wipe you off the face of the earth. You’re done, you’re done.”
On illegal migrants, Homan is going to be equally tough. “Now we have record illegal immigration, record number of women and children being sex trafficked, a record number of known and suspected terrorists sneaking into the country.”
Homan declared that this drug and immigration menace for America is not because of “mismanagement or incompetence, but by design and choice,” that he is going to undo the design, and not allow what he called “national suicide”.
Given the enormity of the tasks Trump has set out to do, both domestic and international, his second term in office looks highly challenging. But Trump, in tune with his nature, sounds confident and purposeful. And that, according to a lot of common Americans and political analysts, is a good start to his second presidential term.
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