Wise Trump

Much misunderstood Trump is a leader ahead of his times. We look askance at his dictats on trade tariffs that in one fell swoop upset the global economic status quo. But he has not flinched yet from the loud protests from every quarter. He now, in similar vein, tags on to his uniquely distinctive North Korean initiative, skewing as it does to varying degrees, the interests of the western allies of the US. Perhaps the disastrous effects of an ultrademocratic referendum over Brexit has left a bad after-taste. Heads of state, of late, are increasingly leading from the front realising that less of democracy could be more useful. Trump could be the fore runner of forthrightly moving the cheese in a global rat race to engineer a custom-made governance that would still sport a democratic veneer. The art lies in getting away with the thinnest one. Trump may well restore the fading US global pre-eminence. — R Narayanan