All the Kings Horses
This entry is from Wayne King's "Anamaki Chronicles Substack". The Anamaki Chronicles Substack is a collection of writings, essays, and art created by Wayne King, Subscribing to Anamaki Chronicles is free, or you can choose to help support Wayne by becoming a paid subscriber or purchasing art and merch.
For decades the economic success of the world was built on a US platform. No more. Countries of the world are now preparing for a new era, not without us, but around us. This is bad news and good news
For nearly eight decades the economic success of the world was built on a US platform. No more. Countries of the world are now preparing for a new era, not without us, but around us. This is bad news and, perhaps, the good news as well.
Donald Trump claims that his administration “inherited a mess” but that, like most of what comes from his mouth, is a purposeful lie. Instead, he is rapidly turning America into the newest nation in a very select economic group . . . the Banana Republics.
If you watched Trump’s speech in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum you witnessed a moment in world history.
Our president is not well; and he is forcing his very own, unique version of “batshit crazy” on all the rest of us.
Sadly, even if we could step back from this tipping point speech, I’m afraid it is already too late to revert to a state of normalcy on the world stage; Trump has not only alienated all of our former allies, but he is ratcheting up his crazy every day, and so doing, he has - fortunately for everyone - unified their response and stiffened their spines and their determination to resist him.
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, has stepped up to the plate as a truth-teller and the leading prospect to become the new leader of the Western world and any alliance that may come from it. Carney said it exactly right “This is not a transition. This is a rupture.”
Since the end of WWII and the Bretton Woods Summit, the United States, with the support of all three branches of our government, along with the fourth estate - our media - in concert with our allies and even our vanquished foes, joined together to build a world where the “Rule-of-Law” brought a semblance of order to a world too often dominated by dictators and madmen. That collective security has carried us through the last 80 years to today.
It has been far from perfect, of course. Though Stephen Pinker rightly asserts that today’s world is safer, saner, and more prosperous than it has been in any other era in human history. That was up until Donald Trump took the reins of power in the USA.
Donald Trump, the Mad King, has blown up the world order, and it’s not coming back.
Trump has relinquished US world leadership and the best we can hope for is a restoration of the rights and privileges outlined by our Founders within the confines of a much “smaller” United States. Smaller in terms of our reputation, smaller in terms of our reach and our ambition, perhaps, even, smaller in terms of our geography. After all, a much closer match for the real, pluralistic, multi-cultural, American ethos lies only a few degrees north of our current borders. The day may come when all Trump’s chest thumping about making Canada the 51st state comes back to haunt us and Canada will only have to invite large swaths of US States to join the land of diversity, human rights and global leadership.
As my ancestral native people would have said, the US has been speaking with forked tongue for low these 80 years; esconsed in a comfortable fiction that “all men are created equal, but some are just more equal than others.”
Mark Carney spoke the quiet part of that system when he said: “We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”
This has led us to a place where it will be near-impossible for the world to prosecute many of the outrages of the MAGA regime, Russia and China under International Law because the US, Russia, and China have exempted themselves from the rules they have established for everyone else. Tacitly supporting one another in an effort that has made the UN largely toothless when it comes to the big questions of war, peace and trade.
The day may yet come when one, or all three, of these countries will agree to be bound by the codes of the International Criminal Court, the International Declaration of Human Rights and other United Nations agreements. That none will have a veto within the UN Security Council, or by simply ignoring the rules, without having economically crippling sanctions imposed upon them.
Until that day comes, however, we must speak out against the atrocities being committed right here in the United States.
Trump cannot expect his rambling, incoherent threat against the Iranian regime while our own cities are being occupied by his private army of “Homeland Security” goons, without eliciting laughs of derision.
The US Bull has torn through the world’s china shop and it has a familiar mane.
Now beyond a simple repair, Trumpty Dumpty has fallen from the wall, and “All the Kings Horses and all the Kings men” cannot put it together again.
The European Union has a measure dubbed the “Trade Bazooka”. It is an extraordinary collection of trade sanctions that would force the US to pay a heavy price for its cavalier behavior. Were Canada to join in this effort, it would become an even more powerful economic weapon.
The creation of a “Middle Powers” Economic alliance, led by Canada, offers an interesting framework - in part because US States that wanted to ally with them would not need to secede from the US but could simply join as members of the coalition. Whether as a preliminary step toward what is termed a “soft succession” or a means for exercising their rights under a new Federalist system.
Beyond economic and trade relationships, there are many other questions of course. If the US continues on its current path away from the pluralism and freedoms we have known toward an even more authoritarian future, the challenges will only grow.
We must begin to plan for what will come next.
Keep the Pressure on
To begin, with a full three years remaining in Donald Trump’s term, we must face the current crises with courage and determination. We must redouble our efforts to call out the current administration. Including denying Donald Trump the opportunity to use the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence as a narcissistic, performative, tribute to his presidency instead of a celebration of the most important document ever written, a document that he has thoroughly betrayed by his actions. The No Kings rallys scheduled for July 4th 2026 need to blow the lid off the last one.
We Can’t Unring the Bell with our Allies, Let’s let freedom ring in our communities.
We may be unable to quiet the alarm that Trump has set off among our allies . . . to unwring that bell, but at the very least, we must return our own country to a place where individuals and families of goodwill, all races, colors, and creeds can live together and rebuild our sense of community where pluralism is once again our strength. If we can only find our song, our American song, we can begin to climb out of this hell that this President has created.
We could begin by reforming the Department of Homeland Security and recognize that securing the homeland means more than having secure borders and reasonable and fair systems for immigration, including a system for allowing individuals to secure temporary worker status and asylum where it is warranted.
Kristi Noem is a joke. She can stay because no one believes her anyway. The real danger to our democracy is Stephen Miller, who, for all intents and purposes, is President Pro Tempore. Meaning to say that in Trump’s growing madness, Miller is making most of the decisions.
Most important, we need to recognize that the security of the homeland is best achieved by fostering a sense of community among all Americans. This can be greatly enhanced by a National Service Program where every young American, and others so inclined, dedicate a year or two of their lives to serving our nation at home or abroad. This idea - specifically proposed in a recent poll and reported in “The Hill” * - has dramatic support among Americans (Over 75%).
The poll, in fact, was conducted before the first estimates of the impact on job growth that AI and the Trump Tariffs seem to have had. At the very least it will help alleviate the crisis in job opportunities MAGA’s King has created.
To further the case for instituting a National Service Program now, consider this: The American people are deeply disturbed about what is happening in Minnesota and elsewhere, right now. Furthermore, the cruelty is matched by dramatic unprofessionalism and inefficiency. Under President Obama, ICE's annual budget was less than $ 6 billion. For that 6 billion, the Obama administration deported 350,000 people, truly the “worst of the worst”. He did so quietly, efficiently, and peacefully. In the year that has elapsed since Trump, Miller and Noem have been in charge of ICE they have deported fewer than 300,000 at an annual cost of $85 billion. 79 billion dollars (the difference between Obama and Trump) is 1 billion dollars short of full funding for a national service program. Oh, and by the way, studies show that such an investment would return $553 billion in economic benefits to the country.
There’s a lot to do if we don’t want America to look like this:
About Wayne King
Wayne is a North American “mutt” with a family heritage that winds through his Native American, Canadian and US Colonial roots. His love for the philosophical founding documents and sacred stories and dreams of both the Abenaki and the Iroquois, the US Founders, and the sacred artists, musicans, writers and poets whose works and images are a celebration of the circle of life continue to be the source of his inspiration.
An author, podcaster, artist, activist, and recovering politician, including three terms as a State Senator and 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, “New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel “Sacred Trust” - a vicarious, high-voltage adventure to stop a private power line - as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon.
Wayne lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags, attesting to both his ancestry and his spiritual ties. Anamaki is a derivative of an Algonquin word meaning “abiding hope”.
Art, Columns, and Podcasts are produced at Anamaki Productions, Winter Warrior Studios in Bath, NH. Join the mailing list and be first to see new images and to receive special offers on cards, prints, limited editions, books, and more at his Anamaki Chronicles Substack
Notes and links
Canadian Prime Minister Carney address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
This EU politician wants to use a ‘trade bazooka’ against Trump. Here’s what that means
It’s time to speak the language that President Trump understands,’ says Swedish MEP Karin Karlsbro.
From the Gallery
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