Learning From Trumpland

Trump
Miguel Marquez marches through downtown St. Louis as people protest actions taken by President Donald Trump aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Less than two weeks into the second Trump Presidency, the world has already learned from Trumpland what they shouldn’t do, or what they can do and get away with it, depending on your political ideology.

LGBT people in the US are being stripped of their rights and recognitions, unregistered migrants (read illegal aliens), including children, are being rounded up and deported, and Greenland, which is part of Denmark, is on a crisis mode, because Trump insists he wants Greenland – to be realised either by buying or by force.

The world is enthralled, either impressed or appalled by the speed that things are transforming under Trump. To some, Trump shows the world what a brave new world looks like. To others, the US is imploding, ideologically, and is no longer a nation to look up to in many aspects – and more of a joke, an embarrassment.

The US Embassy in Bangkok, was inconspicuously silent when Thailand finally realized same-sex marriage rights on January 23, the first in Southeast Asia, three days after Trump returns to the White House, despite congratulatory messages from other major embassies and ambassadors in Bangkok such as the British, Swedish, Finnish, and Australian. This despite the fact that over the years, the American Residence would fly the rainbow flag to celebrate LGBT rights. Now, DEI policy in the US has been scrapped and villainized as the cause of many ills in America.

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Suddenly, countries including Thailand found themselves more liberal and open to LGBT people compared to the United States. Let’s face it, there is no consensus in the US with regard to whether to accept LGBT rights, or even identity, and this is partly due to conservative interpretations and dogmatic belief in certain sects of Christianity – and these people are die-hard Trump supporters.

On Greenland, the threat reminds us of not just what Russia is doing to Ukraine over the past two years but what the US did during its past colonial adventures, be it in the Philippines where it betrayed Filipinos fighting against colonial Spain for independence, only to later be suppressed, killed and colonized by the US for half and century. Or think about Hawaii, and how its monarchy was eventually abolished and the group of islands absorbed into becoming a part of the United States.

More accurately, there’s Guam, a US territory outpost where people on this Pacific island still have no rights to vote for US president. Perhaps this might be the future of Greenland?

The spectre of Trump wanting Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal, reminds us of the dark period of colonialism where might is right. In this regard, America is no longer a respected member of the international community (it hasn’t been for a very long time, to be fair, but it’s getting worse) and is sinking deeper in the eyes of the world.

As we watch more illegal migrants being rounded up in the US and deported, we see where Thailand is not much better with its own near daily reports of people arrested for attempting to cross Myanmar into Thailand. These people from Myanmar are either escaping the political turmoil and fighting – four years after the military coup, or seeking better economic opportunity – or both. Either way, Thailand is not much better than the US in this regard and this is a reminder for concerned Thais to double their efforts to influence the Thai government to become more humane and considerate.

Thais can and should learn from Trumpland, particularly on what to avoid, on what is excessive, and extreme, and ensure that our country doesn’t go down that illiberal path which deprives many of their basic rights and identity.

This is just the beginning.

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