Watching the evening news could be harmful to your health. Really. Local news is plastered with coverage of the ongoing independent counsel investigation into influence-peddling by President Park Geun-hye’s confidante Choi Soon-sil and the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial of Park. The snowballing allegations of extortion by Park and Choi, of wrongdoings by Blue House aides and government ministers, including the drawing up of a “black list” of “anti-government” artists, as well as bribery allegations involving conglomerates, all cause blood pressures to rise. We feel cheated and deceived. International news offers no relief. The daily Twitter barrages by US President Donald Trump is unbearable, not to mention highly stressful. Trump, the disruptor-in-chief, is taking America on a path that is very different from the one the world is used to. If Trump has his way, America will lose much of its soft power, its power to attract and co-opt other countries. Trump’s America may wield mighty military and economic powers, but it would have lost the hearts of people around the world. The outrage at Trump’s rhetoric and behavior stems from the denial of what the world knows, or thought it knew, the US to be. Trump is going ahead with building a wall along the US-Mexico border and getting Mexico to pay for it. The new president is moving quickly to fulfill his election pledge to quit or renegotiate major trade deals. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, declaring an end to the era of multinational trade agreements. He is also proceeding with the renegotiation of North American Free Trade Agreement, a free trade deal signed by US, Canada and Mexico, which he blames for lost American jobs and businesses. And he is doing all this in the name of making America great again, by taking care of America first. Trump’s America is not a country that says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The executive order temporarily banning the entry of citizens from seven Muslim majority countries and stopping the admission of all refugees for four months caused a global uproar, as well as deeply dividing the American people. Its opponents call the order, which the court has since stayed, un-American -- it goes against the fundamental root of America. It certainly goes against what made America great -- its openness and diversity. Trump forgets what made America great: Its moral authority and its global leadership. Its young men and women who sacrificed their lives to protect the freedom of people around the world. It was America’s engagement in the world and its readiness to assume leadership that earned the hearts and respect of the people. And that bestowed upon America its greatness. In his 2015 book “Is the American Century Over?” preeminent American international relations theorist Joseph S. Nye concluded that the American century was not over. However, he offered a prescient warning: “If one looks for scenarios which could precipitate decline, among the negative futures are one in which the United States becomes too fearful and overreacts to terrorist attacks by closing inwards and thus cutting itself off from the strength it obtains from openness.” Nye’s prescription? “If it wishes to prolong the American century, the United States must shape the international environment and create incentives for others through trade, finance, culture, and institutions, and forming networks and institutions for action.” That means active engagement and leadership, not withdrawal and isolationism. While “Make America great again” is a great slogan, the truth is that America is great now. In fact, Trump’s “disruptor” policies may deal a greater blow to America’s current greatness rather than make the country great again. The writer is a senior culture writer at The Korea Herald. She can be reached at khooran@heraldcorp.com. – Ed.
