US looks like it’s 'having a nervous breakdown' as Trump breaks old world order

In the European press — from Portugal to Norway — the United States, under President Donald Trump, is often depicted as being in a state of nonstop chaos. But Hungary-born political scientist/geopolitics expert George Friedman, in the UK-based i Paper, argues that what looks like a "nervous breakdown" to longtime U.S. allies is really an example of the United States' ability to keep "reinventing itself."

"From the outside, it looks as though the United States is having a nervous breakdown," Friedman, founder and chairman of Geopolitcal Futures, writes in the i Paper. "Decisions taken by the White House — at home and abroad — have appeared erratic and irrational. Yet, what we are actually seeing play out is one of the virtues of the United States — its ability to reinvent itself in fundamental ways."

Friedman continues, "The United States is an invented nation. Its system of government engineered at a meeting in Philadelphia in 1787. Its citizenry is also invented, based on the vast number of nations from which the population migrated, creating a unique and powerful culture."

Friedman isn't necessarily defending Trump, but rather, his point is that the United States didn't suddenly become turbulent — it was turbulent from the beginning.

"Invention and reinvention in all things is the foundation of American culture, along with the concept of obsolescence," Friedman explains. "Over time, it evolves and seems to be profoundly different than it was — first by violating norms, then creating new ones. It is a process that seems like a breakdown. What it is, is reinvention."

The 77-year-old Friedman, whose family moved to the U.S. from Hungary, cites "two examples" of the U.S. "reinventing itself" in the past.

"In the Great Depression of the 1930s," Friedman recalls, "Americans suffered, raged and isolated themselves to the largest extent possible from the world. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office, destroyed the existing reality and oversaw the construction of a new one. He issued executive orders that had no basis in the constitution, such as shutting down the banks. He was accused of being a dictator, and his actions were reversed many times, including in the Supreme Court. He responded by trying to pack the (U.S. Supreme) Court with judges loyal to him. He failed but was not daunted."

Friedman continues, "Many loathed him, many loved him…. Consider now the 1970s. The Vietnam War and matters of race tore the country apart. The United States lost the war, and many said the U.S. was a failing country. It suffered economically from inflation, along with freezing wages and prices, something without precedent…. Then, in 1981, Ronald Reagan came to power, violated all prior norms by decreasing taxes on the wealthy, which although held in contempt by his detractors, made possible the surge of investments in computer technology."

Friedman emphasizes that whatever one thinks of Trump, it is important to understand him.

"Both in the 1930s and 1970s," Friedman says, "the U.S. seemed to be having a nervous breakdown. It was reinventing itself. The same is happening now in Trump's America…. Trump is generating a new geopolitical reality. If we are to understand his behavior, he has been engaged in the process of the creative destruction of the old and obsolete order, paving the way to a new world order that allowed the United States to focus on its near abroad, rather than to the onerous necessity of being forced to be a global policeman."