Trump’s destabilising performative peace

ON FRIDAY, Donald Trump was given a made-up peace award from FIFA to satisfy his ravenous infantile craving for global recognition.

- LORENZO A DAVIDS

His approach to peace is not diplomatic engagement. He commands people to his office, dangles tantalising business deals that he has no intention of fulfilling before them. Then he gets them to sign a piece of paper and does a photo-op. In that way, he pretends to make peace between nations that he has very little to no political understanding of.The most dangerous thing about Trump’s approach to peace is that he treats peace as a business deal and a negotiating chip — something to be used for leverage in his own global or domestic political ambitions. He cares very little for the specifics or politics. He completely underestimates how quickly a bad deal can launch a war. But then again, is the 47th president of the USA seeking a war somewhere after the FIFA World Cup so that he could use his war powers to suspend national elections and stay in power indefinitely?

Since the start of the Cold War era, global stability has depended on a series of routine assumptions: that the US would stand by its allies; that presidents would be careful with theatrics and commitments; and that threats would be issued sparingly. Trump has repeatedly shown contempt for that scaffolding. In the nuclear age, the erosion of routine is not merely disruptive ~ it is existential.

His cabinet members call it “the President's unpredictability,’ as if it were a great virtue. But this type of unpredictability is not a strategy. It pushes adversaries and allies to rush into strike first modes, sprint toward nuclear weapons, or cut deals with regional bullies. Under Trump, the world faces a different kind of risk: the normalisation of brinkmanship untethered from any guardrails.