*This information was up-to-date as of writing on 11th January 2026.

Coming into 2026, many people had new year’s resolutions of going to the gym, being more charitable, or quitting a bad habit. Trump seems not to have got the memo. Rather than doing any of the above, he decided that his New Year’s resolution was to kidnap the president of Venezuela. Quite niche. 

I will give some benefit of the doubt to Trump, Maduro was a bad man. He has led a brutal regime over the Venezuelan people, and they deserve better. I wonder if this has been done before? A cruel dictator who lives in a country with loads of natural resources. They oppress their people until the great United States of America swoops in to liberate them and help their country become a prosperous, safe haven. I am sure Trump is the right man to push them into such development. This can already be seen by the ‘turning over’ of fifty million oil barrels from the largest petroleum reserve in the world, from Venezuela, to those who need it most, the Americans. ‘Drill baby drill’, once a domestic issue for left-wing environmentalists, has now mutated into Trump’s global ambition.

Trump has always been hyperactive in his policy making, but this is vertigo inducing. The military operation in Venezuela is already news of the past, as Trump now sets his sights on Greenland. Greenland is a Danish territory, therefore part of NATO, and although it has only 56,500 people, it has a significant strategic geographical purpose due to the majority of the country being located inside the Arctic Circle. Contrary to Denmark’s intelligence, Trump claims that the coastlines of Greenland are ‘covered’ with Chinese and Russian boats. However, the small matter of the Arctic Circle containing 30% of the world’s untapped natural gas reserves and 13% of the world’s untapped conventional oil reserves makes me question his intentions. 

Article five of the NATO treaty specifies that if another country outside of NATO attacks one country, then it is an attack against all of NATO. So what happens when one NATO country attacks another? It completely undermines its use and will most likely lead to its dissolution. This leaves Europe very vulnerable. I know there is the EU, but with the rise of far-right parties across the continent (most of which have received support from Trump’s administration), the EU is going to face an awful amount of turbulence in the future. 

‘AH HA.’ The Brexiteer exclaims. ‘Us Britons are safe.’ Unfortunately, no. As much as you may want to detach yourself from European politics, we cannot simply lift our country and move it somewhere else on Earth (somewhere with more sun would be preferable). Putin will be licking his lips, and without America’s support, I am afraid that he may seize this opportunity to expand further westward.

With no country strong or brave enough to stand up to America’s imperialistic ventures, what hope is there for us ‘weak’ and ‘stupid’ Europeans (Trump’s words, not mine)? America has its midterms in November, which could see a significant rise in Democrats within Congress. Great, so Democrats win the midterms, Trump loses grip over the administration, and resigns (or impeached). I wish it were so simple. Not only could Trump declare a state of emergency by invading other countries (like Greenland) or by deploying the National Guard, thus suspending any form of elections, but Trump and his fellow narcissistic colleagues do not care for Congress. Remember the 19th of December? All of the Epstein files were supposed to be released; if not, then Trump’s administration could find itself illegally obstructing justice. Yet only 0.6% of the files have been released, all of which were heavily redacted. This detachment and undermining of the democratic institution means that Trump, if he plays his cards correctly, could keep on thrashing around global powers and laws like a toddler who is annoyed with their doll.

Hopefully, things do not turn out so morbidly, and some faith in humanity is restored. The newly elected mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, is an example that proves the US has a legitimate motive to politically reform. Although these examples are becoming few and far between, America has still got the democratic infrastructure, however fractured it may be, to reinstall some integrity to American politics. This sounds like a better New Year’s resolution. 

The democratic backsliding in the US is happening faster than ever before, and those who oppose any form of authoritarianism need to act just as quickly. America has done some commendable things in the past, it defeated the British Empire and freed itself from its monarchical structure. They love their ‘Founding Fathers’ and their independence, so why not pay respect to that and stand up against Trump and his cronies?

As much as we can inject hope into the support of movements like Mamdani’s, we must also be optimistic about the disillusionment of Trump’s supporters. This combination would apply a crippling amount of pressure needed to halt his administration’s rapid digression from democracy. When Trump states ‘America first’, he does not mean the American people. He has blatantly leaked policy measures to his friends on Wall Street, allowing them to benefit by being ahead of the curve, while consumer prices rise, unemployment stagnates, and the 0.1% club owns more of the country’s wealth than ever before. Even with the isolated bubbles produced by the media channels in the US, MAGA supporters can see Trump’s insincerity every time they shop at the nearest Walmart.

Just like the instance of Vance trying to get his wife to renounce her Hinduism and become a newfound Christian, I hope that MAGA supporters can start to pay more attention to the other side of the coin, and maybe not watch so much Tucker Carlson. Until then, keep your fingers crossed and pray that some faraway superpower does not come knocking on your doorstep asking for your natural resources. At least we got rid of most of those under Thatcher. Thanks, Maggie.

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