1. Chaos Around The World-Part 1 of Series
Published on August 29, 2026
“A global superpower is in the midst of an unparalleled campaign of self-sabotage, utterly without precedent historically, via the deliberate destruction of state capacity and the elimination of professional expertise.”(6)
Quick Background: At the end of WWII the US helped craft and maintain a world order that “aimed to stop major global wars and economic collapse. This system featured the United Nations, open global trade, and security alliances like NATO.”(1) The Trump II administration came into office determined to supplant that order with its own. It’s producing chaos.
A blueprint for the new order was published by the Heritage Foundation: Project 2025. It proposed that the US back away from its longstanding focus on Europe/NATO/threats from Russia to counter the growing threat of China. It should pivot from “promoting democracy and protecting American security...and make protecting life...a core objective” of foreign aid (260), to eliminate “gender equity” and spread religious freedom. This agenda would be accomplished by “install[ing] loyalists and ideologues at high levels of our diplomatic, military, and intelligence agencies.”(2)
Twenty months into the Trump II administration Project 2025’s plan alone would engender chaos. But implementation had to come from Trump the egoist who alone knows what is right and those loyalists and ideologues, many of whom had agendas of their own. Trump has always preferred unilateral relationships (vs. alliances) so he could wield his deal-making prowess, and regarded tariffs as leverage he could yield unilaterally. By law and the Constitution, the levying of tariffs is the prerogative of the legislative branch, as the Supreme Court has affirmed. The Trump factor has created a “self-inflicted disaster” for the US economy, disrupting integrated global supply chains, infuriating allies, and promoting international esteem for China—the opposite of what Project 2025 wanted.(3)
Add to the mix one of those ideologues with their own agendas: Pete Hegseth, reportedly chosen by Trump for his TV presence. Hegseth’s primary achievements, in addition to being the first Secretary to add a secure cosmetics room to the Pentagon, have been to reorient the military away from “woke” by getting rid of Black and female military leaders and instead promoting the power of manly muscles and beefed-up testosterone.
The Comeuppance is Coming The war against Iran that Trump/Netanyahu started without consulting Congress, in which the Constitution vests the power to make war, has empowered Iran while jacking up domestic gas prices and trapping the US in diplomatic quicksand (where are those allies when you need them?). Iran’s leaders, radicalized by the US’s devastating sneak attack, know they’ve got the upper hand: control of the Strait of Hormuz, and are letting Trump twist in the wind as the midterms approach. Hegseth’s disastrous military “leadership” has failed strategically, depleted supplies of key armaments, and – breaking news – so seriously mismanaged the naval blockade of Hormuz that sailors and their families are furiously complaining of food shortages so severe that one sailor told his mother his meal was “half a cup of rice and two tortillas.” Not to mention moldy showers, broken toilets, inoperable laundry facilities, and weeks without hot water. (4)
Finally, some well-deserved schadenfreude. In one of two stories in Slate, JD Vance, a vehement critic of Ukraine while doing his best to infuriate allies who aren’t Christian nationalists, has had to beg (yes, beg) Zelenskyy to cease his effective bombing campaign against Russian sea vessels because it’s hurting MAGA’s reelection chances. Oh my. In the other, the Pentagon where Pete Hegseth has sent experts packing, has had to email analysts and officers, pleading: “We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.” Whoops, turns out injecting testosterone doesn’t create military expertise. The comeuppance is coming.(5)