Present at the Destruction

In 100 days, President Trump has effectively destroyed the world America made 80 years ago. Worse, that world is gone and won't be easily restored even after Trump is gone.

(left to right) Secretary of State Dean Acheson; Special Adviser Averell Harriman; the President; Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall. National Archives and Records Administration. Office of Presidential Libraries. Harry S. Truman Library.

This article is based on a speech I delivered to the Chicago Consular Corps Luncheon at the Grace School of Applied Diplomacy at DePaul University on April 29, 2025.

Eighty years ago, the United States emerged victorious from World War II and set out to remake the world. Dean Acheson was one of the key players at the time, and he appropriately titled his memoirs of those years: Present at the Creation.

Today, 100 days into Donald J. Trump’s second term as President, we are Present at the Destruction. The world Acheson and others built and been with us ever since is being destroyed, and it will be hard to restore.

Present at the Creation

Let’s recall the world Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, George C. Marshall, and Dean Acheson, and others created.

It was a world forged out of the horrific destruction of a Thirty Years War, bookended by World Wars I and II. That era had been marked by the rise of ethno-nationalism—in Germany and also in Italy, Japan, and elsewhere. America had responded to this rise by effectively turning its back to the world and isolating itself behind two oceans. A deep economic crisis had been aggravated by tariff wars, that cut trade and helped cause the Great Depression.

FDR was elected to address the latter of these crises, but once the US entered the war following Pearl Harbor he ended up focusing on the best way to build a new, more stable and peaceful world. Such a world would be based on three core pillars:

• Collective Security (through the creation of the United Nations);

• Global Financial Institutions and Free Trade Agreements (Bretton Woods + GATT);

• Respect for Human Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights ).

After World War II, Truman, Marshall, and Acheson were stymied in the implementation of this universalist vision by the onset of the Cold War. That global confrontation divided the world into three: a First World of Western Nations; a Second World of Communist Nations; and a Third World of non-aligned and post-colonial nations.

That post-war world was based on the same principles as Roosevelt had laid out, but adapted to the new era:

• Collective Security now focused on security alliances with First World countries;

• Global finance and trade now focused on the First and, later, the Third World as well;

• Defense of freedom and democracy now took the form of defending against communism (as first expressed in the Truman Doctrine).

This is the world Acheson was present at the creation. And this world has stood for 75 years enjoyed widespread, bipartisan support. It proved to be extraordinary successful. It saw the longest period of Great Power peace in history—and allowed the West to win the Cold War without firing a shot. It provided prosperity for the largest group of people in history. And it saw the largest number of people living in peace and freedom in history.

But it wasn’t only an extraordinary successful for the world – it has been extraordinarily successful for America . The last 75 years have been the most peaceful, most prosperous, and most free for the largest number of Americans. Ever.

Truman, Marshall, and Acheson didn’t create this world out of some sense of largess or duty towards others. They created this world out of the cold-blooded calculation that it would best serve America’s national interests.

Through its alliances, the U.S. prevented war and created a stable of rich, powerful allies unlike any Great Power ever had in history.

Through global financial institutions and open trade, the U.S. created an economy that has effectively run the world for 80 years – at great benefit to all Americans, rich and poor.

And by defending democracy and freedom, more countries and more people could turn to the pursuit of wealth in a global economic system that the U.S. ran.

Of course, we made mistakes in the past 80 years. We chose to enter some dumb wars – notably Vietnam and Iraq. We aligned with dark characters in the mistaken belief that Communism (and later Islamic extremism) was a greater threat to our security than aligning with autocratic and evil leaders against these threats. We placed too much faith in the power of the market and globalization, believing open markets would liberalize our adversaries, notably Russia and China. And we failed to address the downsides of globalization, especially in jobs lost and inequality gained.

But make no mistake: We are more secure, more prosperous, and more free because of the world America made than we would have been without it.

Present at the Destruction

This world, which in many ways commenced on Dec 7, 1941, effectively ended on January 20, 2025. Donald Trump is the first American president since 1932 who does not believe in the world America made.

He abhors collective security and the alliances that we have led, seeing them as organizations of free riders who take advantage of American largess. He does not believe in free trade, arguing that tariffs can rebalance the global economy in ways that favor America at the expense of everyone else. He puts no stock in human rights and the freedom of others and shows little faith in the core principles of democracy—the rule of law, respect for others, a commitment to free speech, a free press, and free elections.

None of this is surprising. These have been core beliefs of Donald Trump for more than 40 years. He sought to implement many in his first term, as Jim Lindsay and I argued in our 2018 book, The Empty Throne. But he was blocked in this effort by his lack of knowledge of how government worked and the appointment of senior people around him who still believed in American global leadership based on security alliance, open markets, and democracy and human right

As he told The Atlantic this week, “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys.” But in his second term, he surrounded himself with loyalists and feels fully liberated: “The second time,” he said in that same interview, “I run the country and the world.”

Trump is therefore singularly responsible for the consequences of the actions he has taken in the first 100 days. Those actions have done more to reorder America and the world than what any other president was able to do in his first 100 days in office. (FDR’s famous first 100 days focused primarily on reordering things at home, not abroad).

And those actions amount to noting less than the Unmaking of the World America Made. Trump has called into question America’s longstanding security alliances, not least by siding with Russia against Ukraine and Europe and conditioning America’s defense commitments on how much others spend.

He has upended the global trading system through universal tariffs and a trade war with China that has raised the effective rate of tariffs on U.S. imports to the level last sen in 1901 – well above the rate set by Smoot-Hawley legislation of the 1930s.

He has exercised Executive power at the expense of both Congress and the Courts—the two other, co-equal branches of our government.

And he has sought to undermine American power in myriad other ways:

• Cutting federal funding of research universities that have been the foundation of America’s global innovation and scientific lead for 80 years;

• Ending core development and other assistance programs that have been at the core of America’s soft power for decades;

• Ending support for democracy and human rights by eliminating staffing, bureaus, and programs like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Asia, and embracing strongmen like Russian President Putin and El Salvador’s President Bukele.

Aside from these and other actions, however, what Trump has done in 100 days is fatally undermine the core ingredient of America’s global role—trust. The trust of allies in whether the United States still shares its values and will come to their defense if attacked. The trust of trading partners that the goods and services they send to the United States will be treated fairly in the American market. The trust placed in US finances that made the dollar the world’s reserve currency and its treasuries and equities a global safe haven. The trust that U.S. products and services will work as advertised—from pharmaceuticals to computer chips to weapon systems.

Trump has broken the trust that was the foundation of the world America made. And once trust is broken, it isn’t easy to restore it in the future.

Instead, countries around the world that no longer trust America are reducing their dependence on the United States and looking elsewhere—at great cost to America and Americans.

• Allies are investing in their own defense in order to reduce if not eliminate their dependence on the United States.

• Adversaries are filling vacuums left by the United States, with China taking the lead in international organizations and seizing new opportunities in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and even in Europe.

• Trading partners are reducing their dependence on the US market. China has announced it doesn’t need American grains or energy, and it may seek to bolster consumption at home to reduce dependence on exports abroad. The EU and South America have concluded the largest free trade area in the world, while Canada, Japan, Australia, and the European Union are talking about an even bigger deal between the EU and countries that signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership after Trump abandoned TPP in his first term.

Never before has a Great Power done so much, so fast to undermine its own power. That is not only tragic for America. It is tragic for the World – which has been a safer, richer, and freer because of the wise leaders that created it starting 80 years ago this month.