“Great” can be “Good”, but it does not always mean so, although politicians, especially the new US president, seem to think that the two words have similar meanings without exception.
“Great” can go with selfish and cunning as well. You are great coming back from that dinner party without spending a dime. You are great getting the maximum out of insurance buyers while giving them the minimum. You are a great car salesman.
You are a great CEO who can get the jobs done through cheap labour. A great publicist is a great liar. He’s a great poker player.
In politics, it’s worse. Selfishness and cunningness can be broadly welcomed and encouraged, as long as those supporting them benefit. This is very likely why Donald Trump apparently misinterprets “Great”.
To be fair to Trump, though, his is not a new American attitude. The mindset has always been there, ever since the country established itself as a superpower, or the “world police” who needs all the others to “reciprocate” what it has done supposedly “for” them.
If this mindset continues, America can never be great in the noble sense of the word. If Trump was referring to American hegemony, though, he is probably on the right track.
But he can be wrong as well. Life a knife, steep tariff increases cut both ways. Certainly, they will affect America’s trade partners, but they also will force American consumers to pay more because the US industries will also be impacted.
That’s economically speaking, however. Morally speaking, tariff rises will turn lives upside down, a development that will starkly differentiate “Good” from “Great.”
People will lose jobs. The smart or well-connected will survive, but man on the street will suffer. It will mean two things for politicians all over the world: They will be too preoccupied with foreign tax numbers to think of other ways to develop their countries, or they will take advantage of the situation by starting a blame game that benefits only them.
If America can be “great” again in that sense (getting back economic supremacy and resuming the ability to divide and rule), it will be at the expense of other countries. Non-American innovations that could help the world progress will be
stopped, or slowed down, or become a lot more expensive. Mobile phones or computer tablets or laptops will be unaffordable to a lot more people.
The same goes for other products that could significantly help mankind.
“Great” can be individualized but “Good” is always collective. “MAGA” plays a big role in propelling Trump to the election victory last November, and a lot of Americans could be still supporting his harsh policies affecting countries worldwide. But “MAGA” is getting an acid test.
Irking America’s friends and weakening its foes is political. American consumers standing to buy more expensive products is economic. But Trump is underlining the lack of morals that has been preventing his country from being truly great.
He was right in saying that his nation was not being great and that status had to be changed. He is wrong about how to do it.
A hero makes sacrifices and can be relied upon no matter what. The opposite only thinks about himself or herself.
It has to be remembered that Trump once asked late president Jimmy Carter why China seemed to be rivalling America in a relentless manner. Carter said a lot of things, but his main message is that America had to start thinking less in hegemonic terms and more about common progresses.
There were signs Trump may have got some of it. The way his administration has tackled some questionable issues in his second term yielded some promises. The tariff announcement is threatening to wipe out all those signs.
It even makes a mockery of America sending “humanitarian” rescue aid to the main earthquake site in Thailand. After the large-scale Bangkok tragedy, the Trump administration’s tax announcement is not just a big blow. It’s a dagger in the grieving heart.
It’s a typical hypocrisy the world has always witnessed, time and time again. “Humanitarianism” has been preached, but then “capitalism” will intervene and dictate how much is financially appropriate. Letting the capitalists make judgement on humanitarian questions is absurd, to begin with.
Will the White House ever associate “Greatness” with “Goodness”? To Washington, great foreign policies are ones that stroke fears, and great economic policies are ones that fill American pockets with more money, at the expense of poorer nations.
If Joe Biden did not know that you don’t have to be mighty to be good (or great for that matter), Trump does not know that you don’t have to be rich to be great (or good for that matter).
Both men’s policies are hegemonic. They only resort to different approaches. Biden was trying to shoot his way to American supremacy (indirectly, maybe), while Trump is trying to tax his way toward the same goal.
Biden has apparently failed, as much of America has decided. Trump will, too, especially if greatness is defined (by the world, not him) as a global, not domestic, quality.
Ignoring plights of others can never make America great.
