Why Donald Trump is an immediate danger to the world

By Felix Mbogella

The Trump administration’s erratic and repulsive decisions pose a serious threat to global stability. 

I was shocked beyond words when I heard the President of the United States of America declaring that the US should take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians to other countries.

It is hard to fathom that a president with supposedly detailed background to the Palestine-Israel conflict can make such remarks. 

I now agree with Dr Mary Trump that the man is a danger to his country and the world at large. 

Dr Mary Trump is a niece to President Trump and holds a PhD in clinical psychology.

In 2020, she published a bestseller titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

In the book, Dr Trump, with reflections from her own experiences with Donald Trump, concludes that his mental instability makes him unfit for leadership and that he is a threat to democracy due to his dishonesty and authoritarian tendencies.

Another of Trump’s wacky ideas is his suggestion that the US “buys” Greenland. Not surprisingly, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has rejected the proposal as an absurd provocation of Denmark.

In late 2024, Trump expressed his intention to take over the Panama Canal, which, under the Torrijos and Carter treaty, is supposed to remain open to all nations. 

Responding to Trump’s remarks, President José Raúl Mulino of Panama said the US President’s position was premised on “falsehoods”.

As if that is not enough, Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada, which has traditionally been one of the US’s strongest allies. 

Trump temporarily rescinded his threat after he spoke on the phone with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump has also threatened the impose 10 percent tariffs on Chinese exports to the US. With China vowing to respond in kind, the stage looks set for a trade war between the world’s biggest economies, which is bound to have far-reaching consequences in both countries and even beyond.

Some of Trump’s impulsive decisions since he returned to the White House on January 20 look set to seriously curtail the US’s influence globally. 

Chief among these is his decision to suspend all international aid programmes funded by the US and dismantle the US government’s international aid arm, USAID, which was spending less than 1 percent of the country’s national budget.

It is an undeniable fact that USAID has had a profound impact outside the US, although I’m not in any way trying to advocate its continued support of developing countries, including Tanzania.

It is the dream of every developing nation to wean itself off foreign aid like Europe did through the Marshal Plan.

In fact, USAID had embarked on its Journey for Self-Reliance programme, which acknowledged the importance of self-reliance. 

I’m compelled to share my experience with USAID as a direct beneficiary. 

I have grown professionally through its ethical system, which is exceptionally well designed.

Any person who has worked with USAID can attest to its rigorous capacity-building programmes for host countries. 

USAID programmes have helped many young Africans become successful entrepreneurs. 

I know of other Tanzanians who also grew through the USAID system and the impact they have had at the grassroots level.

So, if the US government really wants to shut down USAID, it should involve the American people through their representatives and not do so through the stroke of a pen wielded by Donald Trump, urged on by his trusted sidekick, Elon Musk, an economic migrant to the US, who was born and grew up in Apartheid South Africa.

I think our vetting process when we were recruited to manage USAID projects was more rigorous than Elon Musk’s vetting by Trump! If the Americans decide to close down USAID, they should do so with dignity and respect for what it has accomplished throughout the world instead of using its few shortcomings as an excuse.

USAID employs thousands of Americans at home and abroad, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs created through USAID-funded projects in developing countries. In Tanzania alone, for example, USAID funds more than 40 projects in various sectors.

How devastating would the effects of HIV/Aids have been in Tanzania if it wasn’t for USAID support? I wish USAID could have put more effort into increasing the visibility of its work so that more people could appreciate the agency’s role in changing the lives of ordinary folk in developing countries such as Tanzania.

It’s a pity that the agency is being shut down through a presidential decree issues in a country that sees itself as the “leader of the free world”.

Dr Felix Kayetta Mbogella is a Tanzanian development expert based in Dar es Salaam. He specialises in management of development projects in sub-Saharan Africa. [email protected]