When the America First Game Is Won, the American People Will Lose

Following President Trump's aggressive and adversarial performance at last week's G-7 summit and Merkel's subsequent observation that the EU can no longer count on the U.S. as a reliable ally, we need to confront the fact that America First is much more than just a catchy campaign slogan or a clever euphemism for Trump's unreflective and swaggering alpha male approach to politics. It is a dangerous, narcissist's game where win-win negotiations are not an option, all other nations are viewed as either useful pawns or deadly adversaries, and strength is not achieved through building a robust community of mutually supportive allies but by being the biggest, baddest lone wolf on the block. Despite the claim that a win would usher in a New American Century, the only winner will be American authoritarianism and the ultimate loser will be the American people.

As a zero-sum game, the rules of America First are simple; erect tariffs to eliminate US trade deficits with foreign countries, even at the risk of antagonizing historical allies; stop the expatriation of American jobs and businesses through punitive tariffs and legislation even if they spark business killing trade wars; encourage repatriation of jobs and corporations that have already left through border adjustment taxes even if they inevitably get passed on to the consumer in the way of higher prices; nullify unfair trade agreements and renegotiate favorable bilateral agreements even when such agreements are a fantasy when it comes to dealing with the EU; deport all undocumented immigrants to prevent them from taking low skilled jobs or posing a terroristic threat despite a lack of evidence that immigrants either negatively impact American workers or their security; and minimize,  block, or discourage all legal immigration, including skilled workers, even if they are desperately needed in the tech, medical and building industries.

Ultimately, all economic imbalances need to be addressed decisively in America's favor and all immigrants must go, not just criminals and undesirables. Anything less will just antagonize our allies and minorities, and diminish our international standing without achieving Trump's stated social, foreign policy, and economic goals.

But what is the ultimate goal? What is a win? The MAGA brigade would like to have us believe that a win will usher in a new era of domestic economic prosperity, security, and military supremacy. But the adversary is not really the Other -  the parasitic immigrant taking advantage of American largesse or the wily foreign governments who has bested naive US treaty negotiators for the past 30 years. Promoting xenophobia and the promise of resurrecting the white dominance of a bygone era does conveniently energize a segment of Trump's base. No, the true adversary is an aggregation of forces that stand to prevent the consolidation of American power under Trump's envisioned authoritarian regime. This includes not only international organizations that might stand up to an authoritarian U.S. government such as the UN, IMF, NATO and global corporations, but also free Americans armed with their pocket books, their vote and their Constitutional rights.

In an America surrounded by rising authoritarian regimes like Russia, China/North Korea, and Iran, we cannot afford to go it alone or forgo the instruments of soft power like diplomacy, no matter how much money we pump into the military. In an irreversibly multicultural world, antagonizing minorities only breeds more extremism (ask yourself why the U.S. which shows relative tolerance towards Muslims has seen only rare terrorist acts, whereas in Europe, where Muslims are often ostracized, has seen so many). Isolating our economy not only punishes foreign imports, but the ensuing trade wars only serve to shrink the markets for American goods. And in a nation of falling birth rates and an aging population, blocking immigration will only throttle an economy already starving for agricultural, construction and technology workers. But unfortunately, that is the dystopia towards which Trump is directly leading us.

If Trump succeeds in winning the America First game, we will gain only a diminished nation, an impoverished economy, and enthralled population stripped of its fundamental rights and economic security, and isolated from the rest of the world like an American North Korea.