ORLANDO P. CARVAJAL: steadily concentrating on fewer people, resulting in shrinkage of the middle class and expansion of the poor sector, especially, I might add, white rural America that felt neglected by the Washington establishment and thus voted for “

Not that I think the United States is paradise but many people do. But there’s trouble because, as Senator Charles Schumer (D) of New York rightly pointed out at Donald Trump’s inauguration, wealth in the U.S. had been

Not that I think the US is paradise but many people do. But trouble because, as Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York rightly pointed out at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, wealth in the US had been steadily concentrating on fewer people, resulting in shrinkage of the middle class and expansion of the poor sector especially, I might add, white rural America that felt neglected by the Washington establishment and thus voted for “savior” Trump.

Trouble, because from his campaign rhetoric we know Trump is divider not unifier and America divided will not even be good again. His inaugural speech might seem populist but reading his lips people in the know could sense he was making his pitch to rural poor and white America.

If this is the America he wants to be “Great Again,” one can only rue its Hitlerian undertones. Hitler, in his first speech as Chancellor in 1933, promised in the equivalent German words that Germany will be “Great Again.” What happened next is history.

Trouble, because when he pitched “America First” to the world, Trump was not declaring a new policy but batting for what can only be an uglier version of an old one. The US has always followed an “America First” policy. Its national security has always trumped (no pun intended) the interests of other countries. Note how, under the pretext of defending our democracy, it actually supported and helped the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos kill it with Martial Law.

What this could mean is perhaps and even most probably that if in the past the U.S. has been subtle about “America First,” now Trump would pursue it egregiously, without pretense and without caring which countries he leaves biting the dust in his reckless (as Trump seems to be) pursuit of that (Ugly American?) policy.

In world politics, this scares the wits of more judicious national leaders for the simple reason that there are rival nations (Russia, China, Iran) and bone-deep enemies (Al Qaeda, ISIS) that will not take American dictation lying down. God forbid but there’s a nuclear war somewhere in the blurred corners of this picture.

In business, I really don’t know how Trump can bring farmed-out jobs back to the U.S. as white American workers refuse the low wages workers in poor countries are getting. Like the American fruit industry relies heavily on migrant wage-earners to pick its grapes, apples, oranges, etc.

Win-win solutions are always the best. I don’t see this in Trump’s scream of “America will start winning again.” Unless, therefore, Americans find ways to survive it, the Trump presidency could mark a U.S. fall from empire and the emergence of a new world order.

Whether or not the latter will be good for the Philippines and the world only time will tell.