When a Superpower Stumbles: Watching America Unravel Under Trump
America unravel under Trump becomes the starting point for examining how institutions, communities, and alliances are breaking down in real time. The piece follows the economic, social, and political shifts shaping this moment from a Southeast Asian point of view. It offers a grounded look at what this unraveling means for Americans and for those watching from the other side of the world.
9 min read
America on the Edge
I saw a post on X recently: “America has become a failure under Trump.” Blunt. Unforgiving. And from this side of the Pacific—from a country that has watched the United States with a mixture of admiration, frustration, and sometimes envy—I had to pause and ask: Is it true?
I’ve spent years observing how institutions fracture under the weight of incompetence and authoritarian habits. I’ve studied what happens when power is treated as a personal possession instead of a public duty. But watching it happen to America—the nation that positioned itself as democracy’s gold standard—feels different. It feels like witnessing something historic and unsettling at the same time.
So I did what I always do: I looked at the facts. And what I found wasn’t comforting. It was a picture of a country breaking open at the seams.
The Economic Wreckage: Tariffs, Jobs, and the Illusion of Strength
Trump promised revival. He vowed to lift American workers, rebuild manufacturing, and bring back industries that had been fading for decades. The message was strong, but reality is indifferent to slogans.
When his tariffs took effect, the average rate jumped from under 2.5 percent in 2017 to more than 18 percent by 2025. That spike landed on ordinary Americans, forcing families to absorb an extra $1,300 to $1,600 each year on groceries, gasoline, appliances, and everyday necessities. California alone absorbed $11.3 billion in tariff costs, triggering more than 64,000 potential job losses. At the Port of Los Angeles, one of the country’s most important economic arteries, operations slowed to 70 percent capacity.
The deportation agenda added another blow. Mass deportation projections showed up to 5.9 million jobs could disappear, and more than 2.6 million of those roles belonged to U.S.-born workers. In Chicago’s Little Village, a community fueled by immigrant-owned businesses, sales collapsed nearly a third after the first waves of raids. Entire neighborhoods froze economically as families left, businesses closed, and fear replaced stability.
The bitter twist is hard to miss: policies claiming to defend American workers ended up hurting millions of them.
The Assault on Healthcare, Education, and Survival
What hit hardest were the policies aimed at the most vulnerable.
The administration pushed a sweeping bill slashing more than a trillion dollars from healthcare spending. Projections showed that between 11.8 and 17 million Americans could lose insurance over the next decade. Nearly half of all births in the United States rely on Medicaid. Nursing home care depends heavily on it. So do 72 million low-income families and children. These cuts weren’t minor adjustments—they ripped at the foundation of the country’s health system.
Children’s hospitals warned of billions in lost revenue. Rural hospitals, already standing on thin ice, began shutting down—more than fifty in just two years. Entire counties were left without emergency care. In education, more than 200 federal grants vanished overnight, wiping out support for students with disabilities, low-income families, and programs meant to build the next generation of scientists and engineers. Tens of millions of dollars intended for STEM advancement simply disappeared.
Emergency preparedness funding shrank just as hurricane season intensified. Nuclear safety technicians were dismissed, then urgently rehired when the consequences became too obvious to ignore. It became clear this wasn’t mismanagement. It was something deeper—an approach to governance that treated the country’s basic needs as secondary to political ambition.
Democracy’s Erosion: When Institutions Become Tools of Power
Trump’s second term revealed something even more alarming: the slow dismantling of democratic restraints.
The Justice Department, once the country’s bulwark against abuses of power, was pressed into targeting political opponents and investigating lawyers who challenged deportations. Reporters faced threats of subpoenas for doing their jobs. Judges who ruled against the administration were vilified in speeches and on social media.
Military force spilled into civilian life. Fifteen thousand National Guard troops were deployed across major cities in one of the largest peacetime domestic operations in American history. Oversight officials, local leaders, and even members of Congress found themselves detained or threatened for questioning administration actions. Students who wrote critical op-eds were detained and threatened with deportation.
Hints of subverting term limits surfaced more than once, floating the idea that “methods” existed to bypass constitutional boundaries. Protest movements were labeled terrorist threats. Key military personnel who refused to fall in line were suspended. And all of this sent a clear message: institutions mattered only when they were loyal.
This wasn’t just political aggression. It was a shift in the country’s democratic posture.
The Global Retreat: Abandoning Leadership and Trust
From a Filipino perspective—from a nation shaped by more than a century of American influence—the United States’ retreat from global leadership was striking.
Pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement erased nearly two billion dollars’ worth of climate adaptation support across dozens of developing countries. Withdrawing from international organizations weakened long-standing partnerships, slowed disease response efforts, and left fragile nations without critical resources.
America’s standing abroad plummeted. Pew’s 2025 survey showed U.S. favorability dropping by twenty points or more in fifteen of twenty-four nations. Confidence in American leadership hit record lows in traditional allies like Germany, Canada, and Mexico. NATO partners scrambled to increase defense spending simply to keep U.S. commitments alive.
A vacuum emerged on the world stage—and others were ready to fill it.
The Constitutional Crisis: When Law Becomes Negotiable
What shook me most was the open defiance of court orders.
In two years, the executive branch delayed or ignored at least twenty-eight federal rulings. One of the most glaring examples came when the Department of Agriculture withheld $3.1 billion in legally mandated food benefits, leaving twelve million SNAP recipients without support. When the courts demanded compliance, the administration claimed the judiciary had “no lawful basis” to enforce the order.
Legal scholars didn’t hedge their language. Many said outright: the country was in a constitutional crisis. Institutions meant to protect balance and accountability were being challenged in ways the United States had never seen.
A Filipino’s Reflection: Recognizing the Pattern
I’ve spent a lifetime observing how political power shapes everyday lives in the Philippines. I know the signs of institutional decay, the slow corrosion of accountability, and the dangerous comfort leaders find in concentrated power.
What I’m seeing in America feels familiar.
Leaders treating institutions as obstacles. Law enforcement used to intimidate critics. Checks and balances eroded. The line between public service and personal loyalty blurred. Truth pushed aside in favor of whatever narrative those in power needed at the moment.
Democracy rarely collapses in one dramatic moment. It crumbles bit by bit, through acts that become normalized over time.
But there’s one important difference: the Philippines never claimed to be democracy’s shining example. America did. And watching it unravel feels like watching history turn in a direction the world thought impossible.
Judging America’s Fate Under Trump
So, has America become a failure under Trump?
The evidence is heavy. Jobs have disappeared. Costs have soared. Healthcare access has shrunk. Schools have lost support. Courts have been challenged. Global trust has thinned. Domestic power has been used to punish critics rather than serve citizens.
But this isn’t just about Trump. It’s about the political current that carried him and the willingness of millions to accept governance that treats democracy as optional.
And that part won’t disappear when he leaves office. It will echo for years.
What This Means for the Rest of Us
From the Philippines, where America’s influence has shaped generations, watching the country unravel raises a difficult truth: even the strongest democracies can falter when power is left unchecked.
It reminds us to guard our own institutions, question leaders who demand loyalty instead of accountability, and recognize that human rights—once compromised—rarely recover quickly.
The world is adjusting to a future where American consistency can no longer be assumed. For countries like ours, that brings both risk and responsibility. We’re being pushed to depend less on outside certainty and more on our own choices.
Final Thoughts Over Coffee
I started this piece with a blunt statement: “America has become a failure under Trump.”
The truth is complicated.
America isn’t gone. Its courts still fight. Its journalists still expose what’s hidden. Its people still protest. Its institutions still resist. That resilience matters.
But the damage is real. Deep. Long-lasting.
And it forces a hard question: can America rebuild what Trump shattered?
From this side of the Pacific, I’m watching. Many of us are. And the America we see today feels more human, more breakable, more uncertain.
Maybe acknowledging that vulnerability is the first step to rebuilding something stronger.
But rebuilding requires honesty.
And right now, what’s been lost under Trump is staggering.
The statement on X wasn’t wrong. It was incomplete.
America hasn’t completely failed under Trump.
But it is failing—its people, its allies, its ideals.
The hardest part is this: so much of that failure wasn’t an accident.
It was a choice.
Afterword: Can We Equate This to the Duterte Era in the Philippines?
Absolutely, there are striking parallels—and also meaningful differences—between what America is experiencing under Trump and what the Philippines endured during Duterte’s presidency. The echoes are unmistakable, yet each story is shaped by its own history and context.
Both Duterte and Trump rose to power amid waves of public frustration—Duterte riding anger over crime, corruption, and drugs; Trump fueled by disillusionment with establishment politics and economic anxiety. Both styled themselves as outsiders, promising radical change and a break from old norms, demonizing critics, and attacking institutions long trusted to keep leaders in check.
For Duterte, the weaponization of law took the form of deadly anti-drug campaigns. For Trump, it surfaced through federal investigations, intimidation, troop deployment, and legal threats. Protesters, journalists, and activists in both countries saw their freedoms sharply limited, with fear and surveillance pushed into everyday life.
Yet the scale and context differ. U.S. institutions, courts, and civic groups proved more resilient—at least for now—while Filipino democratic checks struggled more under Duterte. Duterte’s war on drugs left thousands dead; Trump’s harsh measures never reached that level of lethal force. Where the Philippines sees recurring cycles of strongmen and recovery, America faces a different reckoning as a country long viewed as democracy’s anchor.
Both stories reveal what happens when leaders treat institutions as obstacles and demand loyalty instead of service. And both remind us that democracy is fragile, always at risk, and never self-sustaining.
Ultimately, the struggle for democracy never truly ends. It evolves, taking new forms, new faces, new battles.
That truth keeps my morning coffee cold, my thoughts urgent, and my writing honest.
SOURCES:
Governor of California – News Release
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/08/01/governor-newsom-trump-has-betrayed-us-with-failed-economic-policies/CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/23/politics/trump-presidency-chaos-success-analysisPew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/14/views-of-trumps-policies-and-confidence-in-his-ability-to-handle-issues/The Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(25)00183-8/fulltextCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/how-president-trump-is-dismantling-our-democracy-one-piece-at-a-time/Thomson Reuters – Tax and Trade
https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/impact-of-tariffs-on-tax-and-trade/Economic Policy Institute
https://www.epi.org/publication/trumps-deportation-agenda-will-destroy-millions-of-jobs-both-immigrants-and-u-s-born-workers-would-suffer-job-losses-particularly-in-construction-and-child-care/Wikipedia – Deportation in the second Trump administration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_in_the_second_Trump_administrationCNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/business/ice-immigration-trump-chicago-economyCNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/how-trump-bill-medicaid-cuts-will-impact-us-health-care.htmlEducation Week
https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/trump-bypasses-congress-and-slashes-hundreds-of-education-grants/2025/09Center for Medicare Advocacy
https://medicareadvocacy.org/impact-of-the-big-bill-on-medicare/KFF Health News
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/children-hospitals-trump-medicaid-cuts-state-directed-payments/National Education Association (NEA)
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/trump-cancels-federal-research-grants-what-are-consequencesThe New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/us/politics/trump-constitutional-crisis.htmlCarnegie Endowment for International Peace
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/08/us-democratic-backsliding-in-comparative-perspective?lang=enThe Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
https://civilrights.org/trump-rollbacks/Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/24/us-trumps-first-100-days-assault-rightsHolland & Knight
https://www.hklaw.com/en/general-pages/trumps-2025-executive-orders-chartVerfassungsblog
https://verfassungsblog.de/us-democracy-under-threat/Carnegie Endowment – Emissary
https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/02/trump-executive-order-treaties-organizations?lang=enWashington Monthly
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/02/24/donald-trump-and-the-end-of-american-global-leadership/Stimson Center
https://www.stimson.org/2025/the-end-of-american-internationalism/Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/29/tearing-down-what-drives-trumps-foreign-policyThe Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/trump-cold-war-alliances/684715/Wikipedia – Foreign policy of the second Trump administration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_second_Trump_administrationInstitute for National Security Studies (INSS)
https://www.inss.org.il/publication/nato-2025/TIME Magazine
https://time.com/7208955/trump-paris-climate-agreement-withdraw-impact/Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/22/us-paris-agreement-withdrawal-threatens-global-efforts-tackle-climate-changeWhite & Case
https://www.whitecase.com/insight-alert/us-withdrawal-paris-agreement-impact-and-next-stepsPew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/06/11/us-image-declines-in-many-nations-amid-low-confidence-in-trump/CSIS
https://www.csis.org/analysis/how-trump-sees-allies-and-partnersCouncil on Foreign Relations (CFR)
https://www.cfr.org/article/geopolitics-trump-tariffs-how-us-trade-policy-has-shaken-alliesCSIS – Scenarios 2035
https://features.csis.org/scenarios2035/us-global-leadership-falters/ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/US/snap-appeal-trump-administration-faces-harm-people-buy/story?id=127338565Chatham House
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/09/trumps-policies-and-actions-pose-serious-risks-corporate-americaThe Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/law-america-trump-constitution/682793/International Bar Association (IBA)
https://www.ibanet.org/Rule-of-law-usMedia Manipulation Casebook
https://mediamanipulation.org/sites/default/files/media-files/Parallel-Public-Spheres.pdfBrookings Institution
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-is-civil-society-responding-to-the-u-s-constitutional-crisis/Chatham House
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/01/biggest-economic-risk-donald-trumps-presidency-loss-confidence-us-governanceOxford Economics
https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/economics-of-trump-2-point-0/Center for American Progress
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administration-continues-to-appreciate-the-plight-of-american-farmers/Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/04/23/trumps-job-rating-drops-key-policies-draw-majority-disapproval-as-he-nears-100-days/CSIS – Pacific Perspectives
https://www.csis.org/analysis/pacific-perspectives-trumps-second-term-uncertainty-and-adaptationFocus 2030
https://focus2030.org/the-impact-of-donald-trump-s-presidency-on-international-development-anAl Jazeera – Liveblog
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/11/12/trump-live-us-house-returns-to-washington-for-vote-on-government-shutdownScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016885102500106XTIME Magazine
https://time.com/7332377/colombian-president-trumps-policy-failed/Brookings Institution
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/tracking-regulatory-changes-in-the-second-trump-administration/The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/us/politics/trump-food-stamps-safety-net.htmlUrban Institute
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/implications-shrinking-federal-workforce-doges-recommended-75-percentCEPR – VoxEU
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/trumps-tariffs-fiscal-follyCNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/politics/federal-worker-layoffs-government-shutdownJPMorgan Global Research
https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/current-events/us-tariffsGovernment Executive
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/10/trump-admin-vows-comply-court-order-layoffs-some-cuts-may-still-be-imminent/408888/Penn Wharton Budget Model
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2025/7/28/mass-deportation-of-unauthorized-immigrants-fiscal-and-economic-effectsAmerican Immigration Council
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/trump-mass-deportation-agenda-makes-everyone-less-safe-including-immigration-agents/Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2025/despite-tariffs-us-merchandise-imports-increased-and-exports-heldWikipedia – 2025 United States federal mass layoffs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_mass_layoffsNational Immigration Law Center
https://www.nilc.org/articles/the-price-of-cruelty-how-trumps-mass-deportation-agenda-endangers-us-all/ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022199625000959The White House – Presidential Actions
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/The New York Times – Opinion
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/opinion/trump-us-democracy-autocracy.htmlCenter for American Progress
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/china-first-the-trump-administration-has-willfully-destroyed-u-s-levers-of-power-in-advance-of-the-apec-summit/ACLU – Press Release
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-to-enforce-discriminatory-passport-policyThe Conversation
https://theconversation.com/all-government-shutdowns-disrupt-science-in-2025-the-consequences-extend-far-beyond-a-lapse-in-funding-267182ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667193X25001838Brookings Institution
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/president-trumps-education-budget/
Contact us
subscribe to morning coffee thoughts today!
inquiry@morningcoffeethoughts.org
© 2024. All rights reserved.