Global mistrust of Donald Trump has moved beyond mere partisan debate. It has become a driving force reshaping diplomacy, currency stability, and the very psychology that underpins alliances. The unease isn’t just about his grandiose claims, such as insisting he ended eight wars and his desire for a Nobel Prize. The real damage lies in the erratic warnings, personal threats, and refusal to follow any recognizable international norms.
Allies struggle to read his intentions, while rivals see disorder as an advantage. The result is a global system no longer anchored by the United States but tossed about by its internal turmoil.
A prominent Swiss newspaper went as far as to publish a cartoon showing Trump swallowing piles of money and then, grotesquely, having diarrhea over Switzerland. For a nation built on restraint, neutrality, and financial prudence, resorting to such vivid political imagery signals something deeply wrong. This wasn’t simply satire; it was a stark diagnosis. The world now sees Trump as a financial predator whose actions threaten the very stability Switzerland depends on. When a neutral country openly expresses such disgust, not toward a dictator but toward an American president, it speaks volumes about how far trust has fallen.
This collapse of trust hits the global economy hard. The postwar financial system has always rested on the idea that the US, regardless of its politics, would act with some level of consistency and integrity.
Trump shattered that belief with pay-to-play schemes, personal enrichment, and turning public office into a commercial platform. His family’s business ventures, including risky cryptocurrency ties, reinforced the sense that the presidency was a tool for private gain. This corrosion weakens confidence in the dollar, shakes the foundations of the global economic order, and when trust fades, currencies become political pawns, markets turn volatile, and alliances that once kept the world steady start to falter.
But there’s a more serious threat. Powerful individuals and networks are pushing a new American model, one that centralizes power in the hands of a tiny ultra-wealthy elite while preserving only the illusion of democracy. This system of managed elections and centralized authority masquerades as popular government. If this takes hold, America risks losing its democratic soul, sending shockwaves through every region that relies on its predictability.
Adding to the instability is Elon Musk’s expanding reach in space, with plans to deploy a million satellites. Presented as a way to provide global Internet access, the scale of this project raises serious questions. What happens when a private individual controls a large share of Earth’s orbital infrastructure? What does it mean to have a privately owned sky capable of surveillance, communication control, and data dominance?
Space quietly becoming privately controlled
Governments struggle to keep up, and international bodies are too slow to grasp the implications. Space is quietly shifting from a shared global commons to a privately controlled system that governs the planet.
These forces are eroding the pillars that have held the global order since 1945. Sovereignty is slipping from nations into the hands of a few individuals while critical infrastructure moves from public institutions to private empires. Trust is vanishing faster than it can be rebuilt because the world isn’t facing ordinary turbulence. We’ve entered an era where old assumptions no longer apply.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ramping up domestic munitions and defense production, no longer confident that the US will be a consistent or dependable supplier despite striking a billion-dollar deal with the US. This isn’t about ideology; it’s a move born of strategic necessity. Smaller nations are reading the signs and preparing for a future where alliances shift unpredictably, and guarantees can disappear overnight.
All the signs point to a collapse of the established world order. The long-standing system of stable democracies, predictable partnerships, and rule-based international norms is under extraordinary strain. Whether this marks the end of an era or the painful birth of something new depends on how leaders and citizens respond.
One thing is clear: The old certainties are gone. The real question is whether anything strong enough will rise to replace them before the world we know fades into something unrecognizable.
Dr. Michael J. Salamon is a psychologist specializing in trauma and abuse and director of ADC Psychological Services in Netanya and Hewlett, NY.
Louis Libin is an expert in military strategies, wireless innovation, emergency communications, and cybersecurity.