“Make America Great Again!” is presidential candidate Donald Trump’s battle slogan that is premised on the negative things happening in the country. His self-defeatist and embellished take on current events allowed him to focus his attacks on the failure of mainstream politicians to solve these problems: immigration, Islamic radicalism, poverty, terrorism here and abroad, trade agreements, etcetera and was gifted with the Republican Party’s nomination besting 16 other serious candidates.
Instead of his plans, Trump hurled insults and ad hominem attacks that bordered on lunacy. With broad strokes, he painted Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals along with other preposterous comments about other immigrants. His favorite chants? “We will build that wall along the borders of Mexico and the U.S. and will have the Mexican government pay for it!” Another one was “All 11 million illegal immigrants will have to go back!” And on trade, he “will negotiate better deals” and “bring bag millions of jobs back to the U.S.” Lastly, “America is not respected abroad. We are no longer number one!”
Okay, that last one really summed it all up that all these ills were caused by President Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton. So, America, is the United States really no longer great? Somebody said, “What a silly question. Of course we are number one.”
Indeed, but it is an election year and Trump could not sell himself to the voters because he has not held a single position in government that would show some skills about running the government along with the intricacies of maintaining relations with foreign governments. His much touted business acumen and wealth is questioned in every turn and Trump does not even talk much about them because for every business venture he was involved in, a trail of lawsuits, discriminations, racism, bankruptcies, and losses dotted the bottom line. So he is bent on running at Obama’s and Clinton’s expense.
America of course is number one. We can begin with the recently concluded Rio Olympics. The standings summed up America’s dominance with 121 total medals, 46 of them were gold. The U.S. Olympians garnered 37 silver and 38 bronze. America led in every medal category. The runner up, Great Britain had a total of 67 medals with 23 silver and 17 bronze. China, Russia, and Germany rounded up the top five. It is not that Americans are born already endowed with the physical attributes needed to win Olympic Games, on the contrary many if not most of them, prepared for years to get to where they ended up at the last Olympics – medal stand. That’s the great American spirit that drives them to excellence. Of course it helped greatly that the country has superior training facilities that supported Team USA. The training centers in San Diego (Chula Vista), California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Lake Placid, New York do not receive a single cent from the government. These centers were built by donors and volunteers from the business sector, community leaders, and volunteers who raised funds to have them built. America is great in the eyes of the world because its people care deeply and passionately about America’s standing in the world.
Militarily, America is second to none and is the undisputed superpower on earth. Even Russia’s Vladimir Putin said so. While China and Russia are world powers, they are not at the same level with the U.S. when it comes to military superiority. There is a good reason why we have not had a war break out
in the Pacific since World War II. The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet patrols the navigable areas on air, surface, and underneath the oceans 24/7. The U.S. Marines did not get the reputation as world enforcer out of thin air. They are the president’s 911 responders in troubled spots of the world. The Fifth Fleet patrols the Mediterranean Seas and oversees the Middle East while the Sixth Fleet maintains peace in Europe. The Third and Fourth Fleets guards the Homeland while the Tenth Fleet is a newly reactivated fleet that handles cyber security and anti-submarine warfare. For every Fleet comes with ships, aircrafts, tens of thousands of Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The Seventh Fleet is the largest with 60-70 ships from aircraft carriers (jets and helicopters), battleships, submarines, amphibious ships, and support ships. Hospital ships (2) are on standby if needed at either coast (Western or Atlantic Coast); and supported by 40,000 sailors and marines. This is just the Navy. The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army are just as badass. None of the world powers can match these armatures. America can and will use these powers upon orders from the president. Thus, the president’s foreign policy is important and behind carrying out such policies is the prudent use of such awesome military power. A fickle minded president like Donald Trump will unnecessarily endanger the world with the flick of a nuclear button.
America’s economy is still the strongest in the world that one famous economist once said that “if the American economy sneezes, the rest of the world economies catches cold.” It is so true. While the economic progress of the United States has been slow since the Great Recession that Obama inherited from President George W. Bush, the United States economy is continually gaining strength albeit gradually while still being dragged by troubled economies in Europe, China, Russia, India, and Latin America. As a matter of fact, world leaders are envious that Obama’s early economic interventions (bailout of banks and auto industry, economic stimulus) are credited with the steady U.S. economic growth.
The war on radical Islamism has been at the forefront of Obama’s efforts to defeat ISIS and the latest news coming from Iraq and Syria points to a methodical defeat of the Islamic Caliphate. Yes suicide bombings and lone-wolf attacks are still happening in many parts of the world including the United States but in its totality, the American and coalition strategies for defeating ISIS is working. Raqqa (Syria) and Mosul (Iraq) – two largest ISIS strongholds are slowly slipping away from their tentacles and are on target to be liberated by the end of the year as promised. Obama’s cerebral focus on involving Arab partners in the war is paying off well.
America cannot take the credit alone because the very institutions that Donald Trump chastised as inutile, i.e. NATO, alliances with Japan and South Korea – these partners have been at the forefront of American policies in these parts of the world. In Europe, Putin is resorting to bullying smaller countries like Ukraine by annexing Crimea and courting Turkey and former Soviet Republics because NATO has surrounded Russia and can no longer command a massive invasion force that it used to have back in the old days. American ships are in the Baltics and Black Seas that could hit Russia at moment’s notice. On the economic front, the economic sanctions that the U.S. and Europe handed down on Russia’s little parlor game in Ukraine has taken a big bite on the Russian economy and has caused Putin enumerable misery at home. That is why Trump’s misadventure of cozying up to Vladimir by softening the Republican platform by removing the part on supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons are driving many establishment Republicans to the folds of Hillary Clinton.
The last frontier, space, is dominated by the United States all the way to Pluto and the outer fringes of the universe. So, yes China and Russia are playing little games like building airstrips on the Spratly’s or Russia’s flexing muscle in Syria but in the end, everybody loves to sing Neil Diamond’s patriotic song – “everywhere around the world, they’re coming to America – today, today.”