Jan. 20, 2025 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President on Monday, with the eyes of the world watching. Trump’s inauguration speech was anything but meek—he pledged various initiatives to strengthen the economy, bring back manufacturing, and increase energy supplies; called for ending America’s wars; and even announced a plan to put an American flag on Mars in the coming years. Significantly, he also declared he would end the weaponization of the government, and later in the day revoked the security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials.
On the negative side of things, Trump announced broad immigration reforms, pledging to send back illegal immigrants and declare drug cartels terrorist organizations—possibly raising the specter of foreign military action to fight them. This orientation won’t work to actually solve the immigration problem, which is a deeper issue and requires the sort of economic development approach outlined in the Schiller Institute’s recent report “Development Drive Means Billions of New Jobs, No Refugees, No War.”
However, one could pick apart every initiative and executive order Trump announced during his speech, but that would not be thinking strategically. While some of the stances Trump is taking are certainly problematic, and will create further unnecessary tensions, the real issue is whether he will contribute to or impede the shaping of the new world currently in formation.
The inauguration of President Trump was welcomed by the governments of Russia, China, and India—each in their own ways, but each expressing a hope for the potential that exists. Russian President Putin welcomed Trump’s stated desire to re-establish relations with Moscow, and highlighted in particular Trump’s “statements about the need to do everything to prevent World War III.” China’s President Xi, who spoke with Trump just a few days ago, noted how China and the U.S. should be partners that “work together for world peace” and a common interest. In India, Prime Minister Modi welcomed Trump in a post on X today. However Foreign Minister Jaishankar gave a particularly interesting analysis of the significance of the Trump administration during a speech in Mumbai on Jan. 18:
Trump’s inauguration, Jaishankar said, “is an event that is expected to have profound consequences for the global order. Rather than perceive it as a cause in itself, we should perhaps analyze it as a symptom of a churning that has now reached a critical point. That process has many dimensions, many issues, including a rebalancing of economic and political power over multiple decades. It has been accelerated by a particular model of globalization, which while creating greater prosperity, has also led to more insecurity…. Today, we may well be on the cusp of a new era. One where the United States departs from an established tradition of foreign policy and focuses on its own interests, rather than in shaping the world itself. Where the focus is more on the compulsions of competition rather than on observance of regimes…. New openings and novel practices could create space that did not exist earlier.”
These new openings and novel practices are indeed occurring—simply look at the beginnings of a peace process in Gaza and the intention to bring the war in Ukraine to an end. Much more work must be done, and the initial ceasefire in Gaza, for example, must be elevated to a fundamentally different policy for the region. However, as was clearly shown by Biden’s decision to issue “preemptive pardons” to approximately 50 individuals on Monday—many of whom were implicated in efforts to unjustly destroy their political opponents—Trump will be facing immense resistance. If you think this is merely partisanship and big egos, get serious. Trump’s ability to fundamentally change any policies in Washington will depend on whether or not he can break free from the intelligence community’s dictatorship over thought in America.
Therefore, the most valuable ingredient now is for citizens to weigh in on this strategic dynamic. The confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel remain a crucial step in this regard, and The LaRouche Organization’s dossier “The Liars’ Bureau” should be distributed far and wide as part of it. It can supplement the already major plans Trump has announced to deal with the weaponization of the government.
But beyond that, turning these openings into the beginnings of a new paradigm in the world requires that new, principled ideas are injected into this administration. In discussion with associates today, Helga Zepp-LaRouche pointed especially to the need for the Oasis Plan in the Middle East now that a ceasefire has been reached:
“The big question is, will the ceasefire go through all the three phases? And I think what we have to do, we have to really increase our organizing, that this is now the moment when the Oasis Plan must be put on the agenda. And the fact that at the Dec. 7-8, 2024 Schiller conference, Professor Zhang Weiwei had said that China has the means to implement the Oasis Plan, and therefore, it is really now a question of the Trump administration to accept such a cooperation….
“The present situation is one that does have the potential to be catapulted into a complete paradigm shift,” Zepp-LaRouche added, but we have to get people mobilized because “we absolutely have to have an end to the cycle of violence, and the only way that this can be accomplished is by putting the Oasis Plan on the table.”
