Donald Trump and the America to come

VATICAN CITY - It will be crucial for the occupants of the White House to try to overcome the polarities that have marked American political life for years. A "divided" United States would be a grave danger to an already divided and fragmented world. L'Osservatore Romano editorial on the challenges of the new US president.

No, the story did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. What was an illusion of some political scientists and politicians at the end of the last century has been proven dramatically wrong. After all, they understood this in the early 21st century with the unthinkable event of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, which brought a grim awakening to those who imagined an era of global stability under the banner of liberal economics. In the more than 30 years since that historic day, when one of the greatest libertarian totalitarian systems in history collapsed along with the Wall, humanity has experienced an increasing number of conflicts that have gone from local to regional, until they have taken on the disturbing profile of what Pope Francis, with prophetic precision, has for years called "World War III in a nutshell." So the story is far from over.

In this quarter of a century, a century which - to quote the Pope again - marks a "change of epoch" and not an "epoch of change", the forces of the great economic, political and military powers of the planet have also changed. Today we live in a multipolar world, which makes the search for agreements, especially in crisis situations, more complex and less linear. And yet this is the world we live in, and the principle of reality demands that all leaders (especially those with more power) realise that the great challenges of our time must be tackled with new paradigms, with a creativity that rejects the 'this is the way it has always been done' approach.

It is in this historic context that on Monday Donald Trump will take the oath of office for the second time to defend the Constitution of the United States and to serve the American people. This is an event, as has been said and written many times, that is unprecedented in many ways and is viewed with both hope and concern, because no one misses - even in a world where there is no longer a single superpower - how much the United States can still influence international political and economic dynamics. President-elect Trump has repeatedly stated that he will push for an end to the war in Ukraine. He has also declared that the US will not engage in any new conflicts during his presidency. It remains to be seen what stance he will take on international bodies.

Immigration, the environment, and economic development (increasingly driven by technology) are among the key issues on which the 47th occupant of the White House will be closely watched not only by Americans but by the entire international community.

Historically, the United States has done best when it has opened itself up to the world (the United Nations is, after all, an "American invention") and, with its allies, built a system that - with the limitations of all human endeavour - has guaranteed freedom, economic development and the advancement of human rights. This has happened under both Republican and Democratic presidents. So an America turned against itself would be nonsense.

President Trump is called to work to overcome the divisions and polarization that have characterized American political life for years and that resulted in one of the saddest dates in our nation's history when the Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021. It is certainly a difficult task. Yet necessary for the new administration. For a "disunited" United States would pose a grave danger to an already fractured and fragmented world.

Ten years ago, Pope Francis - the first American-born pope - gave a speech to the US Congress in which he emphasized the fundamental values of the American nation. It is a speech that President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance might find useful to read.

This speech, many times applauded throughout the Capitol's semicircle, pointed to four figures of great Americans as stars who can help chart a course for those called to responsible political positions even in these troubled times. "A nation," Pope Francis concluded, "can be considered great when it defends freedom, as Lincoln did; when it promotes a culture that allows people to 'dream' of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it fights for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did with her tireless work, which is the fruit of faith that becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative spirit of Thomas Merton." These are the values that have made America great. And which the world still needs.

Alessandro Gisotti / vaticannews.va / gnews.cz-jav