Opinion

Trump 2.0 is exposing American exceptionalism for what it is and has always been

by Nesrine Malik

Guantánamo Bay? Imperialism? Alliances with billionaires? Those shocked at the president’s early moves have forgotten what came before

The Guardian Mon 3 Feb 2025 07.00 CET

The dust briefly settled, only for it to be kicked up once again. Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders – causing chaos on everything from foreign aid to world trade – is rapidly rocking and reshaping domestic and foreign policy. And the temptation is, yet again, to think of Donald Trump as an exogenous shock to US democracy. But look closer, and you will see not a rogue president taking a hammer to a hitherto stable political order, but a history of the erosion of norms that paved the way for him

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