"Many Americans seeking to understand what drives President Donald Trump have looked back to the history of the 19th century, to when the world was carved up into spheres of influence dominated by a handful of “great powers.” But an influential new paper argues that we should cast our eyes further back, beyond the swaggering statesmen of the imperialist era to the age of absolute monarchs if we really want to understand the world Trump is shaping.
Wellesley College’s Stacie Goddard and Georgetown University’s Abraham Newman call this emerging order “neo-royalism,” and describe it as a global system dominated by rivalries between a small group of leaders and allied “hyper-elites,” all looking to gain wealth or status.
In a conversation just days after the Trump administration’s assertion of control over Venezuela and amidst the White House’s saber-rattling over Greenland, Goddard and Newman said the president’s focus on Venezuela and Greenland highlights a growing divergence between the 19th century definition of America’s national interest that many Trump critics accuse him of bringing back, and the reality of how the president is acting globally. It’s a divergence that their theory helps explain."
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/01/07/venezuela-royalism-donald-trump-00713276
#USA #Trump #Neoroyalism #Venezuela #Greenland #Imperialism