After forcing the New York Governor to roll back congestion charges, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Trump’s social media post was accompanied by a mocked-up Time magazine cover with Trump wearing a crown, and grinning from ear to ear. There was some possibility that Mr Trump was joking, but soon enough the official White House account shared the same post. Probably, the fear he invoked in the minds of his opponents and compatriots, and the adulation of his followers, has convinced Trump that he is indeed the King. Even before Trump took over from Joe Biden, he proposed solutions to a number of intractable conflicts and problems; declaring interalia that he would end the Israel-Hamas conflict, Russia-Ukraine war, and reform the bureaucracy.

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The alacrity with which the principal actors responded was truly remarkable; a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza, the RussiaUkraine war has lost its intensity, and Trump’s friend, Elon Musk, is terrorising what is left of the bureaucracy. Domestically, Trump is ruling America by Presidential decrees, giving short shrift to the legislature. Trump says he is making America great again by freeing the bureaucracy of waste, fraud and sloth, but saner persons are afraid that Trump is wrecking the government structure, and paving the way for a Trumpian autocracy. The judiciary alone can stop Trump from overreaching; here Trump quoted Napoleon: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” hinting at a desire to confront the judiciary.

As befits a monarch, Trump makes outrageous statements, and makes equally outrageous demands from leaders who come to pay homage to him. Later on, as is the wont of kings, Trump mellows down a bit, and allows himself to be persuaded to agree to somewhat more rational solutions. So, all those seeking an audience with Trump must come loaded with gifts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited Trump on 4 February, had to agree, at least superficially, to Trump’s proposal of the US taking control of Gaza, and turning it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’

Then came Japanese PM Shinjiro Ishiba, who had to pledge a US$1 trillion investment in the US, and agree to import more Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the US. King Abdullah II of Jordan, who was the next in the Trump durbar, was forced to modify his country’s stance on displaced Palestinians. PM Modi followed and reduction in tariffs from India and increase in US crude oil and defence exports to India, were some of the positive outcomes for the US. Now, three European leaders ~ Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Sir Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom ~ are headed to Washington to pay tribute to Mr Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky, has been summoned to the White House to sign away Ukraine’s mineral wealth to Uncle Sam ~ probably in continuation of a minion’s statement that Uncle Sam is not Uncle Sucker. One can divine the way the wind is blowing; the British ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, who had earlier described Trump as a ‘bully’ and ‘reckless and a danger to the world’ has recanted his earlier statements, and admitted that his previous criticism of Trump was “ill-judged and wrong.” However, much more is required from the European leaders; speculatively speaking they would be required to leave Ukraine to its own devices, or at least tone down their involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war ~ so that the US and Russia can divide up the hapless country. Trump’s vocabulary is also that of a monarch, not that of a mere leader.

Thus, he unhesitatingly calls President Zelensky, till recently a staunch US ally, ‘a moderate comedian’, ‘a dictator without elections.’ He has labelled India as the ‘tariff king.’ What he said about world organisations like the WHO, and other countries is equally cringeworthy. For example, while talking about ending the Russia Ukraine war, Trump wrote in his Truth Social post: “I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR.” Like a true emperor, who does not follow precedent, Trump has turned US foreign policy on its head. President Nixon, in 1973, cosied up to China to break its alliance with the Soviet Union.

At that time, and till the second Trump Presidency, Russia was America’s principal enemy. Now, Russia is almost a US ally, and China is Enemy No.1. The same about-turn can be seen in US-Western Europe relations. Once all-weather friends, Trump has signalled a reset in relations, with a not-so-subtle hint that Europe should look after its own security. Coming after Trump’s ninety-minute phone call to Putin, Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he hardly mentioned security issues, and ac cu s ed European leaders of indulging in misinformation, disinformation, and suppressing the right of free speech, left his audience flabbergasted.

Incidentally, the Conference was called to focus on the war in Ukraine. With the Russian bear breathing down its neck, and American help elusive, Europe is feeling apprehensive, which is the reason for its top three leaders’ visit to the US. The American policy Uturn about Ukraine had come about much earlier. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had already indicated that restoring Ukraine’s territory to its pre2014 status was “not realistic,” Ukraine’s joining NATO was out of the question, and there was no chance that US troops would protect Ukraine’s borders when Russia invaded it next time. Claiming that Ukraine started the war, and not inviting Ukraine to the US-Russia talks on ending the war, has sent a clear signal to Ukraine about its expendability. Trump’s latest statement: “Zelenskky better move faster.

He’s not going to have a country left,” can only be seen as designed to force Ukraine to agree to whatever may be dictated by Putin and him. However, seasoned political analysts see a method in Trump’s madness and his policies as a continuation of the US aim to dominate other countries at any cost. The only difference is that earlier the dirty work was done by the CIA and other American agencies, while the US Government mouthed platitudes, like saving democracy and protecting poor countries from starvation. In the 1950s and 1960s after the US pressured Britain to free its colonies, CIA soon stepped in to remove inconvenient patriots from presidentship.

In fact, the US record of supporting, or even propping up dictatorships and monarchies, is unparalleled. John F Kennedy, the youngest US President, endowed with a leading man’s good looks, brought glamour to the White House, and followed, in public, a policy of decolonisation and defending democracy. Yet, the same Ken nedy, thought nothing of destabilising unfriendly governments in Caribbean countries through the CIA. Trump subscribes to the same playbook ~ only the velvet gloves are off. Trump’s seemingly daft statements like offering to purchase Greenland from Denmark, proposing to make Canada US’s fifty-first State, getting Google to rename the Gulf of Mexico, preparing a migrant detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, instigating sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, seeking to bring back plastic straws, opposing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) tenaciously and firing top US Generals are all aimed at establishing himself as the top dog in the world pecking order.

Trump has frequently resorted to downright lying to browbeat his opponents. He has gone so far as to claim that Ukraine started the Russia-Ukraine war. Speaking after a mid-air collision between a US military helicopter and an American Airlines flight, Trump publicly speculated that diversity hiring may have been a factor in the disaster. Trump wrongly claimed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website stated that persons with disabilities such as “hearing, vision, missing, extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism” were “all qualified for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country.”

Thus, it would appear that the Making America Great Again initiative of Trump is a thinly disguised attempt to make himself Trump the Great. However, it is too soon to judge the issue. With an egotistic and outspoken person like Trump, all statements should be taken with a pinch of salt. As Mort Sahl, the comedian said: “I was on stage last night, and I gave a medical report about Donald Trump. I said he was hospitalized for an attack of modesty.”

(The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax)