Trump replaced global economic stewardship with nationalist unilateralism yet kept MENA hegemony

Evidence

Throughout Europe, the period which dates from the beginning of the 1970s has been one during which the open idea of the nation has lost ground in favor of closed, nationalist, and usually racist, antisemitic, and xenophobic versions. In the first instance, this development can be explained by the changes described above, the end of the social relationships specific to the age of industry and the crisis in the institutions. It also owes a lot to international change. The globalization of the economy - even if at times there is a tendency to exaggerate the extent to which this is the source of all our present social misfortunes, treating it as a myth or an ideology - does make it difficult to conceive of the nation as the symbolical and territorial framework for the main elements of economic activity. On the contrary, there is an increasing tendency for economic activity to take place outside the nation, or from abroad, and the nation then becomes not so much a framework as a sphere, which is subject to its consequences, and is not always able to withstand or to adapt to financial movements, commercial markets, or systems of international decisions. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3167 (#complicates, via linked claim)

All of this was secured under the hegemonic umbrella of the United States’ financial and economic power backed by military domination. The Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 turned the dollar into the world’s reserve currency and tied the world’s economic development firmly into US fiscal and monetary policy. The United States acted as the world’s banker in return for an opening up of the world’s commodity and capital markets to the power of the large corporations. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 825 (#complicates, via linked claim)

According to my friend M. Arsalan Suleiman—former Acting US Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under President Barack Obama—this clash of civilizations ideology animated many of the Trump administration’s most identifiable policies. These policies included the debates over the US-Mexico border wall, immigration reform, refugee resettlement, the Muslim Travel Bans, undermining the Iran nuclear deal, possible Muslim Brotherhood terrorist designation, aggressive posturing vis-à-vis China, and efforts to ally with Russia. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 685 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: US policy in the MENA region consistently favored its geopolitical interests over democratic outcomes — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 367; Trump’s foreign policy swapped liberal for illiberal hegemony while keeping empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 514; Trump kept US hegemony aims while ditching multilateral institutions for nationalism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 518 (+20 more)

Broader Connections

• Economic globalization undermines the nation as a coherent framework, fueling closed nationalist reactions #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3167
• US financial-military hegemony structured the postwar Fordist world economy #complicates (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 825
• Clash-of-civilizations ideology animated the Trump administration’s core policies #complicates (0.75) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 685
• The working and middle classes swapped sides on globalization and nationalism #complicates (0.75) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 23
• Trump’s conduct consecrates the white male supremacy entrenched in traditional values #complicates (0.75) — Wendy Brown, In the Ruins of Neoliberalism, 293
• Trumpism inverted liberal aversion to cruelty into a celebrated virtue #complicates (0.75) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 436
• Trump publicly downplayed global white supremacy after Christchurch #complicates (0.75) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 219
• Offering a MENA category drastically changes how Middle Easterners self-identify racially #complicates (0.75) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 591
• Trumpism outlives Trump and continues fueling Muslim disenfranchisement. #complicates (0.70) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 669
• Trumpism predates Trump and will outlast his presidency #complicates (0.70) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 509