The US is Being Pulled, Kicking and Screaming, Into the Multipolar World
US foreign policy is still largely bipartisan, but reality is forcing the would-be Hegemon into the multipolar world.
It must be repeated; momentous political changes are taking place in the world. As Lenin is said to have said, “there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Not since the years 1944-1946 and 1989-1991 has the world been going through a more significant geopolitical shift: the multipolar world is being now hesitatingly adopted by the United States, but clearly against its will.
Indeed, Trump’s foreign policy, as mad as it may seem to some, has method in it, in the sense that the new administration acts as it does because US power is declining in relation to others. Specifically with regard to the watershed crisis now - the conflict in Ukraine - it has become obvious that the West cannot win and that the war is already decided in favor of Russia. Trump has understood this and accepted it. As VP J.D. Vance wrote on X, “President Trump is dealing with reality, which means dealing with facts.”
No White House, with Trump in the Oval Office or otherwise, would have proactively engaged with the Russians if the Ukraine project was going according to the initial plan of “overextending and unbalancing” Russia, according to the RAND corporation in 2019. In other words, if Moscow had been on its knees militarily and economically, Washington had gone for the jugular of the Russian bear; i.e. pushed for regime change and a return to a subservient Russia of the 90s. As professor Jeffery Sachs said at the European Parliament, “the Trump administration is imperialist at heart”.
The advent of multipolarity also means the demise of the Western idea of unipolarity that one could argue goes back not only to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, but five centuries. It was the conceited pseudo-Hegelian idea of the “End of History” of neocon professor Francis Fukuyama, whereby only Western-style “liberal democracies” aligned with Washington should and would exist on Earth.
As if it wasn’t enough with the geopolitical earthquake that Russia’s inevitable victory in Ukraine over NATO and over the West is already starting to unleash (with or without a “deal” with the United States), now the entire US Federal Government, aka the “Deep State”, is being rocked by the savvy, quick and very public Trump administration audits and funding cuts to the entrenched and privileged bureaucracies in Washington.
In terms of US foreign policy, this could have an very beneficial impact to the world as the decades-long aggressive regime change operations often organized and funded by USAID and NED (a CIA cut-out), are supposedly being starved of funding. This needs to be confirmed though by actual proof in the future that this defunding is actually taking place.
Will the Swamp be Drained ?
However, it is premature to judge whether DOGE will be successful in reorganizing and downsizing the executive branch in Washington, for two reasons.
Firstly, only time will tell whether the US Deep State will indeed buckle under the pressure that one department after another is being subjected to, and thus whether the Trump administration will be able to usher in a new chapter in US political history, no less. Knowing how cunning the bureaucratic leeches in Washington usually are at sucking life-blood from their hosts despite efforts to remove them, there is some reason for skepticism about a successful draining of “the swamp”.
But based on past US political events, it is even necessary ask whether Trump’s life in danger (again), considering that his administration is planning to cut defense spending by half. As Jacob G. Hornberger wrote at the Ron Paul Institute, “if Trump does attempt to move America in the same direction that JFK was moving America, will the national-security establishment let him get away with it?”. Yet, considering all the nominations loyal to Trump that have been confirmed by the Senate, the assassination scenario is now unlikely, but not impossible.
The second reason why it is geopolitically premature take into account the rapidly evolving domestic political situation in the United States, is that US foreign policy will not necessarily change as a result. Whether or not Washington is entirely or partly reformed, streamlined, cleaned-up, or “drained”, the reality is that US foreign policy may well stay very much on its hegemonic bipartisan course.
The US new-found desire to “get out” of Ukraine is driven by the hard cold realization by the new administration that Washington cannot reach its initial objectives of weakening Russia, something that should have been clear years ago. Washington wants instead, as VP Vance said, to “focus on some of our challenges in East Asia”. This is code for confronting China of course, in typical imperialistic fashion. Also, the Trump’s administration’s outrageous plans regarding the Middle East, including “taking over” Gaza and applying “maximum pressure” on Iran, are also typically US bipartisan policies driven by the powerful grip that the Israel Lobby has over US foreign policy.
Indeed, the new Republican administration has never been nor sounded isolationist, despite some people, rather naively having had such hopes before his inauguration. It seems that Trump is trying in his particular idiosyncratic way, whether he is fully conscious of it or not, to postpone the inevitable day of reckoning for a US Empire that is so overstretched and so overindebted that it is not able to continue any longer as is.
As Elon Musk clearly explained, the US national debt is unsustainable; this is also the reason why government spending needs to be controlled and reduced.
Trump is thus attempting a kind of “fuite en avant”, or forward flight; one last push of Empire before the final curtain is lowered (perhaps with the end of the dollar as the reserve currency? It is no coincidence that Trump has been warning (sic) BRICS not to challenge the dollar.)
Will the US really gracefully move aside?
The time when the US would-be Hegemon could strut center stage alone is now almost over. But the big question for all those millions whose fate depends on US actions, is whether Uncle Sam will leave in a huff or gracefully move aside to leave space on the multipolar world stage for China, Russia and other nations?
Trump himself reflects this political uncertainty and enhances it by his outrageous eccentricity; cajolingly talking about getting along with other world powers one second (as do other members of his administration), only to harden his stance and threaten sanctions or worse the next.
A recent study asked precisely this most important question: “Can America transition from hegemon to global partner without compromising its security and influence? The future of global leadership may depend on the answer.” The jury is still out on this one and this uncertainty keeps the world on edge. The following are necessary in order for this transition to happen smoothly and peacefully:
1. Embrace Multilateralism: Prioritize cooperation over unilateral action in
addressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and
security threats.2. Redefine National Security: Recognize that security extends beyond
military might and includes economic resilience, environmental
sustainability, and social well-being.3. Lead by Example: Uphold democratic values, human rights, and
transparency not only in rhetoric but in action—both domestically and
internationally.4. Share Technological Advancements: Position itself as a leader in
technological innovation while avoiding monopolization of critical
technologies like AI, clean energy, and biotechnology
This kind of US shift is needed for the world to become truly multipolar but also more peaceful than today. But will Washington do it? This is far from certain. As Italian political philosopher Gramsci said, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters”.
DOGE has efficiency confused with truth.