Martin Wolf: The Declaration of Independence proclaimed liberation from tyrants. Donald Trump wants to be one.

The US was the victor of the 20th century. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it not only possessed unmatched political and economic power, but embodied admired values of constitutional government and freedom. 

This did not last.

By the end of the first world war, the US was the master of Europe. Unfortunately, it supported a peace that its subsequent withdrawal made unenforceable. 

Its abdication, together with the domestic political upheavals, the inflations of the 1920s and the mass unemployment of the Depression, led to the second world war.

European empires disappeared and a social democratic consensus emerged. Laissez-faire had gone. Managed capitalism was the new order. 

Deng Xiaoping chose “reform and opening up”. Another superpower emerged. Other upheavals include financial crises and mass migration.

In the US, the administration is corrupt, incompetent and, most important, hostile to the norms and values that animated the founding fathers. 

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed liberation from tyrants. Donald Trump wants to be one.

In the world, democracy has been in retreat for two decades: according to V-Dem, just 7 per cent of the world’s population now lives in liberal democracies. 

Xi Jinping can smile.

This world echoes that of the years before 1914. So, how might it end?

We do learn from history. But then, alas, we forget.

Martin Wolf Financial Times 24 June 2026

https://www.ft.com/content/5a9fed66-57fa-4f7b-bce9-f5519bd1d84b?syn-25a6b1a6=1

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