Sunday summary 16/03: “Make America Worse”

Negotiations on the War in Ukraine: Make “peace,” not war?  

During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours”. However, 8 weeks passed, and the war was still raging, Putin being extremely threatening, and the Europeans on their own. Still, negotiations are ongoing between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia… in Saudi Arabia. The result of these talks was that Ukraine accepted a 30-day ceasefire, proposed by the United States. However, Russia disagrees with this text and keeps on fighting in Ukraine. The American administration is in negotiation with Russian diplomats, and Trump even had a phone call with Vladimir Putin. Even if this call was presented as “productive” by Donald Trump, the Europeans accuse Putin of lengthening the talks to gain territories in Eastern Ukraine. Thus, these talks on a ceasefire are far from being ended, and peace still looks very far away. Indeed, this ceasefire will be provisional, and a “solid” peace will not be negotiated soon. 

Rewriting History: Trump suppressing thousands of pictures and banning words 

The next topic brings us close to dystopia. By pursuing Trump’s executive order to ban all “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” (DEI) references, the American Administration reached some extremes. Indeed, they have drawn up a list of banned words in the national archives and administrative registers. This list, published by the New York Times and relayed by other media, contains words like “LGBT”, “feminism”, and “activists.” Journalists say this list is likely “incomplete,” while the White House argued it was an “error”. However, concrete examples of this ban exist, as seen with the suppression of thousands of pictures from the archives. The main examples are these pictures of American soldiers with a plane named Enola Gay, the aircraft that launched a nuclear bomb on Japan in August 1945, or the Tuksegee Airmen, the first Black soldiers’ squad. The reason for suppressing these pictures? The surname “Gay”, which is one of Trump’s banned words, and the presence of black soldiers. Overall, according to the Associated Press, this massive deletion could lead to the disappearance of 26,000 images from the Pentagon archives. Yes, Trump’s politics could get even worse than what we imagined. 

“Pay, baby, pay”: Trade War is raging.  

One last example of Trump’s devastating policies is his threat to implement 200% tariffs on European alcohols in retaliation for European tariffs on Bourbon whiskey. Still, an advertisement was issued in the US by the representative of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, saying that these measures would have a disastrous impact on the sector. Indeed, Europe represents 60% of their exports. However, Donald Trump kept his threat, using economic pressure to keep the Europeans at his disposal. Half of the wine imported into the US comes from Europe, showing the impact that this measure could have on the European economy as well. In the end, both sides are losing this economic battle. 

Dear reader, you now reached half of this Sunday Summary and I know that it is hard to digest all this overwhelming news. But, I promised you some “good news”, here they are! 

Bad fortune: 5 billionaires losing 209 billion $

Do you remember that row of billionaires under the Capitol dome on January 20 for Trump's inauguration? Together, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Bernard Arnault, and Jeff Bezos lost a combined total of 209$ billion dollars, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Since their wealth is largely made up of shares in their companies, and as stock prices are in free fall, they face huge losses. The worst situation remains Musk’s Tesla, whose sales are falling across the world. Drops are reaching more than 70% compared to last year, while sales for electric vehicles are rising (+30% in a year). To show their opposition, some Tesla owners are putting stickers on their cars, claiming that they bought their Tesla “Before Elon went crazy”. Also, in a last-chance “coup d’éclat”, Elon Musk went to the White House with some Teslas, and Trump bought… one car! This shows that the most efficient way to protest against their policies is still to hit them where it hurts: in the wallet. Some went further in their opposition and ravaged one of Trump’s Irish golf greens by planting Palestinian flags. Also on Thursday, pro-Palestinian activists invaded the Trump Tower in New York. Opposition is building up but remains too limited to have a concrete impact. Still, it’s better than doing nothing. 

New Canadian Prime Minister: The game is not over 

Politics is still a field of action. Mark Carney, Justin Trudeau’s successor as Prime Minister of Canada, is a severe opponent of Donald Trump. In his first speech, he declared, "In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win."He claimed that Canada would maintain its tariffs against America and that they would “win” the trade war. Canada even referred to the WTO against the 25% American tariffs on steel, engaging in a long procedure. All of this is to show that Canada is not the “American 51st State” and that they won’t commit to Trump’s demands. 

Dear reader, I hope that you had a glimpse of hope with this last news. If you also feel powerless and wish to show your opposition to Trump, I have a proposal: Stay informed and share this article!