Trump is not the president of peace; rather, he is the world's most dangerous person.

Trump is not the president of peace; rather, he is the world's most dangerous person.

 

It is easy to drift into alarmed hyperbole about Donald Trump’s second presidency.  During his first term, the guidelines and principled advisors who discouraged his authoritarian tendencies are no longer in place.

 He is now the world's most dangerous person without them and as he gets older. Some in the hyper-muscular manosphere (the so-called secretary of War is one) may consider that a compliment.  Not at all. The person who currently commands the awesome weapons of the presidency lacks the temperament, mental stability and moral compass required for the job.  The American republic and the international order are hanging by a thread. 

 Congress and the courts act as safety valves against excessive executive testosterone in normal times and under the Constitution's system. President Trump has utterly intimidated both.  Military commanders who have objected to Trump’s misuse of the armed forces have resigned or been stripped of command. 

 There were signs last week that Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the military may have crossed the line into a war crime as they carry out the president’s questionable offensive against Venezuela — aggression not authorized by a congressional declaration of war.  

 To attack a neighbor to the south that also happens to have the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Trump justifies this with shaky interpretations of his authorities, secret legal memos, and unexplained evidence. Even some Republicans appear to think he has gone a bridge too far.  However, we arrived some time ago at the point where all Americans should be alarmed at the motives, as well as the mental and emotional stability, of the person who can trigger nuclear Armageddon without anyone’s permission, a second opinion, consultation with Congress, or the concurrence of his generals.   

 In addition to 5,400 nuclear weapons, Trump commands the most powerful military force ever assembled.  More than 2 million men and women in uniform, along with their families, depend on his judgment for their lives.  So do people in countries the president might target — presently the 30 million residents of Venezuela.   

 American families have reason for worry, too, especially those in Democrat-controlled cities where Trump has deployed heavily armed soldiers to engage in dangerous political theater.  Their mission is to intimidate, terrorize and separate families, with special attention to people of color. 

 Our fear and loathing are nothing compared to what’s happening in Ukraine.  In his ongoing quest for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump inserted himself without invitation or portfolio into the Ukraine war, bragging that he could end it in a day because of his special relationship with Vladimir Putin.  It’s clear now that he’s Putin’s puppet.  Trump has humiliated Ukraine’s president in public, belittled our European allies, and cut off direct U.S. military aid to Ukraine, while Putin has laid waste to cities, targeted civilians, kidnapped children, and been indicted for war crimes.  By Trump’s own count, 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers and untold numbers of civilians died during the first eight months of 2025 after Trump took over the negotiations.   No peace deal should reward Putin for those behaviors. 

 The Trump administration has emerged as one of the greatest threats to American citizens back home. Climate change is referred to as "the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century" in the authoritative health journal The Lancet. Trump calls it a hoax.  He actively promotes more production and consumption of the fossil fuels primarily responsible for global warming and has abolished federal science and clean energy programs.  

 Climate-related disasters are costing Americans about $150 billion annually — money that would be much better invested in helping the 37 million people living in poverty.  This may not have caught Trump’s attention.  He is preoccupied with profiteering from the presidency and with adding a huge, gilded ballroom for parties at the White House.  As of August, Trump and his family had reportedly gained $3.4 billion in net worth during his time in office, including more than $1.8 billion in cash and gifts since his reelection. 

 Researchers point out that what Trump calls the “climate hoax” is undermining food security and causing prices to rise.  “Extreme events fueled by our warming climate are impacting every stage of the food supply chain and driving food prices higher,” according to Climate Central.  More than 47 million Americans, including 14 million children, suffer from food insecurity. 

 Are we concerned about the costs of health care?  Each summer, extreme heat days add about $1 billion to health care costs in the United States. The Trump administration's rollback of environmental safeguards is anticipated to result in nearly 200,000 premature deaths in the coming years, in addition to health risks brought on by floods, new disease vectors, and other weather disasters. The unadorned truth is that Trump’s broken moral compass, overactive testosterone, sycophantic staff, pathological narcissism, and extraordinary presidential powers make him a clear and present danger to the republic and the world.  That mix of accelerants is even more volatile with a capitulating Congress and the Supreme Court’s decision that he is above the law. 

 It is time — actually, well past time — for members of Congress to hitch up their big boy and girl pants, red as well as blue, to do something about this. 

 William S.  Becker is co-editor of and a contributor to “Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People,” and a contributor to Democracy in a Hotter Time, named by the journal Nature as one of 2023’s five best science books.  He was a senior official in the Wisconsin Department of Justice in the past. He is currently executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, a nonpartisan climate policy think tank unaffiliated with the White House. 

 

Writer: Binod Kumar Simkhada

binodkumarsimkhada315@gmail.com