Donald Trump, one year later: America under tension
The President of the United States was elected a year ago, on November 5, 2024, and since his inauguration last January, the whole world has been moved according to his moods. But it is in the United States that he has succeeded in creating an unprecedented tension, worthy, for the most alarmists, of an atmosphere of civil war.
By posting a video generated by artificial intelligence showing him piloting a plane dumping excrement on seven million citizens marching against his authoritarian drift, the billionaire shows vulgar contempt for anyone who opposes him. We see this same President, who pardoned the 2021 Capitol attackers the day after his election, receiving, with closed eyes, the blessing of evangelical pastors. As for God, the word keeps coming back to his mouth. His fundamental struggles, on which his popularity in deep America is based, are against “wokism” and its excesses, welfare and illegal immigration in the name of “America First”.
Pete Hegseth, the hawk at the head of the Secretary of Defense, renamed the Secretary of War, recently gave a worrying virilist speech, calling for merciless suppression of the “enemy within”, particularly those who help hunted migrants. The army and the police have all the powers to deport using methods contrary to the law.
But perhaps it is an exaggeration – at least that is my feeling – to see the Trump reign drifting towards a form of fascism. He has not yet declared war, only threatens and blackmails. His idols are money and success. He strives for peace deals and has obtained the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. And his excesses of language are not – for the moment – followed by tragic errors like that of George W. Bush, intervening in Iraq.
The fact remains that this way of cutting aid, of going beyond the laws, of fighting science, universities, the rules of the Constitution, distresses its opponents. A certain American named Léon, without attacking him by name, knows, mezza voice, convey to him his concerns and his disapprovals.
