'Lasting damage': How Trump is destroying America’s 'soft power' around the world

The mass layoffs of federal workers that the Trump Administration is carrying out with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, formerly headed by Tesla/SpaceX/X.com leader Elon Musk) are affecting a variety of government agencies — from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The Trump/DOGE cuts are also gutting the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83 percent of USAID programs would be canceled.

In an article published by The Nation on June 3, c— a journalist, author, and University of Wisconsin, Madison history professor — warns that that the foreign aid cuts will "do lasting damage not just to their unfortunate victims, but to America's sense of global leadership as well."

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"In President Donald Trump's transactional diplomacy," McCoy explains, "only the hard power of mineral deals, gifted airplanes, or military might matters. And yet, as we learned in the Cold War years, it's much easier to exercise world leadership with willing followers won over by the form of diplomacy scholars have dubbed 'soft power.'"

The term "soft power," McCoy notes, was coined by Harvard University professor Joseph Nye in 1990 —although the concept existed long before that.

Nye explained it this way: "Seduction is always more effective than coercion. And many of our values, such as democracy, human rights, and individual opportunity, are deeply seductive."

In the past, hawkish U.S. presidents — from conservative Republican Ronald Reagan to liberal Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson — viewed what Nye later dubbed "soft power" as important from a foreign policy standpoint. But many MAGA Republicans see USAID as a waste of taxpayers' money.

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"Even in these uncertain times," McCoy laments, "one thing seems clear enough: Donald Trump's sharp cuts to this country's humanitarian aid will ensure that its soft power crumbles, doing lasting damage to its international standing."

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Read Alfred McCoy's full article on The Nation's website at this link.