The World Stopped Making Sense to Me

I remember that when I was younger, everything — life itself — seemed much less complicated. It felt as though everything moved more slowly, and everyday worries simply didn’t exist. And I’m not talking about the time when I was a baby or when I was still in primary school. I’m talking about much more recent times, around 2009–2010, when I was in my early twenties.

It seemed to me that political news, everything happening around me, was far less serious than it is now. In recent years, either I have grown older, or the political events happening around us have become increasingly significant. Imagine how many of you would have believed that the United States of America would turn into one of the most corrupt administrations. How many of you would have believed that a time would come when the world and humanity would need to be protected from crimes committed by Americans? Of course, if we asked Native Americans, they would probably immediately say that they had been expecting something like this for a very long time. But even so, for the world's leading military power to attack fishing boats and kill civilians in the process... In the end, even if they were drug traffickers, you cannot simply classify them as combatants.

You cannot infiltrate Venezuela with helicopters to kidnap the most important person in the country and then argue that you are somehow unable to seize control of a fishing boat. Perhaps it is a matter of comfort. Comfort probably plays an important role. It is much easier to press a button, launch a missile, and assassinate someone that way than it is to send US Marines out at night in a Zodiac in the middle of the sea. What if those soldiers get wet? What if they catch a cold and develop pneumonia? Who is going to treat them? Healthcare is expensive in the United States anyway.

An out-of-control regime that believes it can do whatever it wants, most likely because it is rotten from within. And just look at the results. The result is that America's nuclear codes are in the hands of what is, by now, a patient with dementia. Whether he has been diagnosed or not, whether he wants to accept it or not, that is the reality. Unfortunately, he is old, so it is not necessarily his fault, but the narcissism and other psychiatric conditions Trump may already have had have probably become worse as he has grown older.

Just look at the current state of the world. The second- or third-largest power in the world, depending on how you want to classify it — namely Russia — attacks Ukraine and, after years of war, is still unable to defeat it. The United States, the world's leading military power, initially supported Ukraine but later withdrew its support. Trump is more occupied with attacking fishing boats around Venezuela, kidnapping foreign presidents, and bombing Iran while claiming that he has achieved an absolute victory. In the process, Iran has ultimately already won the war because it controls the Strait of Hormuz. The US has lost most of its bases in the region. That means political control over the region has been lost. I might even say forever. And don't even get me started on the genocide in Palestine.

Trump should retreat, put his tail between his legs, and go back to his bunker, as he has done throughout his life, just as he bankrupted all the businesses that were handed to him. Except that this time, he has to claim that it was a victory. But how do you turn a spectacular, humiliating defeat into a success, into a victory? What can you tell the American people and the rest of the world to make them believe you? Of course, when we are talking about Trump, perhaps he does not even need the world to believe him. He only needs to make the claim, and if he keeps repeating it often enough, he probably believes it.

So the current situation is quite difficult to analyse. I remember when I was a child and the World Trade Center towers were attacked. Somehow, I felt anger, a shared sense of outrage, and solidarity with Americans because of what had happened. Would I feel the same way today if something similar happened? Probably not. I probably wouldn’t care, even though fundamentally nothing has changed. Most Americans are innocent. Most Americans are victims of his tyranny. So, in reality, nothing would really have changed. Of course, some of them are trapped by their own stupidity. This short, chubby, demented man with swollen ankles must have got there somehow. He was democratically elected. Now that they have elected him, they have to grit their teeth, clench their asses, put some cream on so it doesn’t hurt too much, and wait. There isn’t much else they can do. That is the reality at the moment.

Last night, I was amazed as I drove past petrol stations. I saw the price of fuel and, not only that, I saw that some petrol stations were closed because they had run out of fuel. It is incredible that this kind of stupidity can actually happen.