Monday Commentary

Donald Trump’s second presidency in the United States has been marked by a series of outrageous statements and actions that have gripped world attention. Some, like the demand that Canada becomes the 51st state, will never happen, others, like the threat to invade Greenland, are unlikely to happen and, on some, President Trump will change his mind, as he often does. Regardless, they provide a distraction to other acts that, whilst equally outrageous, received less attention, even if they form part of Trump’s core strategy. In this category, one can put the dismissal of Carla Hayden as the Librarian of Congress and Colleen Shogan as Archivist of the United States. Their replacement with Trump loyalists is a signal of Trump’s determination to control the narrative about his presidency, define what is truth and what is a lie, and make sure future generations will depend on a doctored history.

The Catholic Church has a new leader. Robert Prevost was not discussed by the media before being announced as the new Pope on Friday. He will follow the Church’s mantra, that has served it well over two thousand years, to be as flexible as necessary and as rigid as possible Europe has fresh energy in the person of the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Despite the wobbly start in the German Parliament, Merz in the four days after his swearing-in met key European leaders, and laid the basis for his Chancellorship. Meanwhile, Donald Trump statements continue to hanker for the past. His call for the re-opening of the prison on Alcatraz is a case in point. Trump marks the end of the “American era”. The US will remain a rich and powerful country, but its global role will be much diminished.