I like to view myself as a non-alarmist. Currently, however, the inside of my brain is flaring neon red and orange: the alarms are sounding so loudly, I can barely hear myself think.
In the past year, when my friends came to me in rageful disbelief over Trump’s repeated idiotic actions, I was largely unphased. That led me to write an article a few months ago about how I think we need to bring back patriotism and how Trump doesn’t define us. Although I still think the U.S. will recover from Trump, I also concede that he constitutes more and more of who we are by the day.
Trump’s recent actions are chipping away at the core of American identity. Through ICE takeovers of city streets and his kidnapping of a foreign leader, Trump has made it patently clear that he couldn’t care less for the rules of democracy.
But even beyond that, Trump has an utter disregard for international balance. By threatening a takeover of Greenland—a semi-autonomous territory of a fellow NATO country—we are not just aggravating our allies; we are sacrificing our first place in the world order.
The United States’ final line of defense against encroaching superpowers was its alliance with NATO—but given Trump’s most recent performance at the World Economic Forum and his seesawing tariffs, it’s safe to say those alliances are strained to the breaking point.
At the Forum, the president mocked everyone in the room. Though he ultimately assured fellow NATO countries that he “won’t use force” to take Greenland, he insisted on the U.S.’s right to the country (despite how it’s been owned by Denmark for over 300 years).
The consensus following the speech was clear: the world order has been broken. The consequent question that everyone is asking is “In a new world order, who will emerge triumphant?”
The initial answer is obvious: China. The country has been on America’s tail for decades, waiting to take over the second we mess up.
For most analysts, one moment that was particularly symbolic of China’s overtaking the U.S. was the DeepSeek debacle. Despite months of work and billions of dollars invested in AI in the United States, with only a reported $6 million, China created DeepSeek––an AI model of roughly equivalent quality to ChatGPT—in a matter of months.
While later analysis estimated this number was vastly under-calculated, the point was clear: China knows what we care about, they’re going after it, and they’re doing it better than us.
But, most importantly, the reason why many believe China will overtake the U.S. is that it’s the only nation that’s trying. Transition from one global superpower to another has been the only course in navigating the world order—until recently.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has another idea: a union of middle powers. At the World Economic Forum, he posited that in this ruptured world order, we don’t need a new superpower taking over.
When united, countries like Canada, the UK, France, and others have a lot of power. Carney urged other countries like Canada to take hold of their power to create a more cooperative world that doesn’t need to rely on the U.S. or China.
He closed his speech defiantly, saying, “That is Canada’s path. We choose it openly and confidently, and it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us.”
While many will see this shift in Carney’s view of the world order as a bad sign, I’m hesitant to view it with such cynicism. Of course, I love America, and some egotistical, patriotic part of me absolutely wishes America could maintain its number one spot eternally—but no one superpower can maintain its top spot 100% of the time. What matters, however, is preventing nondemocratic countries like China from taking our spot. So, while a temporary absence of American dominance isn’t necessarily a sign of impending doom, the values of whatever country steps up in the interim are crucial.
