America is no longer the beacon of democracy

Translating from the Factor:

"The United States is no longer the "shining city on the hill" to the world, but rather the madman with the machine gun

By Iliana Slavova, Aug. 18, 2025 

On Friday, the world witnessed the most ridiculous political play involving an American president ever enacted. The leader of the greatest (until recently) democracy and the dictator of the most despised satrapy met on the red carpet. They shook hands, patted each other, touched each other, gesticulated with a grin, curtsied to each other for the cameras… And all this while the war instigated by Putin continues to sow death and claim innocent victims in Ukraine. 

Then they got into the same car without their translators, like schoolgirls running away from class. Let them make noise to their heart’s content. Except this isn’t about school mischief, it’s about war crimes. Whatever they secretly said to each other on the way from the Anchorage airport to the meeting place affects the fate of the world and the lives of millions of people. 

The sight was more than just ridiculous. It was disgusting and sad, as the former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valery Chaly, put it. It was cynical. It was a slap in the face of Ukraine, which is paying with its blood for Putin's imperial madness. It was also a slap in the face of the entire democratic world, whose leader Trump could have been if he had not chosen to collude with the war criminal from the Kremlin. To roll out the red carpet for him for killing hundreds of thousands of people, torturing prisoners of war and civilians, kidnapping children, committing genocide. Oh, yes, he gave him a letter from his wife, who is concerned about the kidnapped Ukrainian children. But that is no reason to ruin his relationship with Putin, which he describes as "fantastic." 

When it comes to Putin, everything is fantastic for him. And his meeting is a "ten out of ten", even though it fell short of his expectations. On the way to Alaska, he arrogantly announced that he "would not be happy" if he returned without a ceasefire agreement. After Alaska, he solemnly repeated Putin's thesis that instead of a truce, a comprehensive peace agreement should be concluded, when it happens, if it happens. Until then, the Russians can freely pour their bombs on hospitals and playgrounds. He arrived with his concept, and returned with that of Putin, whom he was supposedly going to convince. 

The Kremlin stole the show from him. The Russian autocrat received his honors and vindication after three years of isolation – he was once again recognized as a global factor, and the overthrown Russia as a great power. Without giving up an iota of his claims and goals. The world media wrote that Putin had received what he dreamed of – to be accepted as an equal by the leader of the number one power in the world. In fact, he received more than that. And much more than imposing his negotiating positions. He was left to deploy a hybrid campaign to push through an imperial strategy. 

It is no coincidence that the meeting took place in Alaska, which was once Russian. There is no doubt that this was Putin's wish. They may have let Trump think that the decision was his. Or maybe not. The Russians have a long tradition of manipulation and altering reality. If we sum up Putin's cry that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a tragedy, with the dreams of his guru Dugin to revive the Russian empire and his speech at the joint press conference with Trump - eloquently explaining Alaska's Russian past and the continuing Orthodox traditions of the local population - there is no room for doubt about the Kremlin's long-term plans. And these plans are not new. Back in 2015, the BBC (strangely enough) published a touching article about the preserved Orthodox heritage in Alaska. After some time, the media fired practically its entire Russian-language editorial staff and appointed a new team. There was clearly a reason for this, but that is a separate topic.

Let's not forget the T-shirt with the inscription "USSR" that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared in. The message is clear: we come here with our entire imperial background - Soviet and Tsarist - and we have not forgotten for a moment that this land was Russian. The plot "Our Alaska" played out in Anchorage with the tacit consent of the American president. Even, contrary to all diplomatic protocol, Trump let his guest speak first at the press conference - twice as long as he himself. As if he were not the host, but Putin. And in the heart of an American military base. Not a random base, but a bastion during the Cold War against possible Russian encroachment. A symbol of America's national power and security.

 

This raises many questions. How is it that Trump allows the leader of a country that has declared NATO countries as its legitimate targets into a strategic military facility? Does he intend to leave NATO? Or torpedo it from within? No one doubts that the Russian delegation has harnessed all its technical and mental abilities to gather as much information as possible during its stay at the base? Even if it is “only” about the location of certain facilities, will anyone guarantee that this does not pose a risk? Especially against the backdrop of the “Our Alaska” storyline.

 

Last but not least – how did the paranoid Putin, otherwise fearing for his life, dare to enter a base with 30,000 trained American soldiers who know who NATO’s enemies are? How could he if he is not convinced that Trump is 100% loyal to him? But such loyalty is tantamount to treason on the part of the American president.

 

 The comments of observers that Putin was actually setting the rules during his visit to the US are not without foundation. Trump really looked like a vassal to the Russian autocrat Even the announcements about the schedule, agenda and format of the talks came first from the Kremlin and then from the White House, as if the organizers were in Moscow. Another icing on the cake was the announcement that the special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg was not allowed to attend the meeting because the Kremlin does not like him. Trump is giving up the most informed person on his team on the main topic of the forum, accepting Putin's tastes to determine the composition of his own delegation!

 

Naturally, with such lackey behavior, Putin will play out the “Alaska is ours” plot. Of course, he would not intervene with military force either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (soft power methods come first). Not during Trump’s term. The US president’s admission that Xi Jinping had promised him not to attack Taiwan while he was in the White House was impressive. This is probably the formula by which Trump approaches Putin. 

 

 And then? If he asks one of the world leaders not to do something until the end of his term, the implication is that he can do it afterwards. Thus, he undermines not only the security of America, but also of the world as a whole. With his behavior on the international stage, Trump humiliates his own country, trampling on its democratic traditions in favor of autocrats who flatter his ego. If before Trump the United States was the “shining city on the hill” for the world, today it is more like the madman with the machine gun.

The American president is destroying the world order, created around the USA as the leader of the democratic world and the guarantor of compliance with international rules. He is torpedoing policy based on principles and replacing it with deals dictated by situational benefits. He is erasing moral boundaries, the difference between good and evil, and pushing the world back towards the arbitrariness of brute force. 

 

 By taking the side of the aggressor Russia, ignoring the suffering of the victims in Ukraine, Trump is imposing a policy devoid of empathy. And this affects the very foundations of our civilization. The example of the anthropologist Margaret Mead is well-known, who saw the first sign of the emergence of civilization in an ancient femur with a healed fracture - a sign that someone had shown empathy and care, because no one would have survived such a trauma alone. Today, the question is whether enough empathy will be found in world leaders for the world as we know it to survive."