Trump brings perestroika to America

Asia Times

12-03-2025

In 1989, the Soviet army withdrew from Afghanistan after a ten-year losing battle with the Mujahedeen. Two years later, in 1991, the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact dissolved. Afghanistan solidified its reputation as the 'graveyard of empires.'
Fast forward 30 years to 2021, the US army withdrew from Afghanistan after a 20-year battle with the Taliban, the Mujahedeen's successor. Four years later, in 2025, President Donald Trump placed a bomb under NATO, effectively ending the Atlantic alliance.
The parallels between the Cold War superpowers extend beyond Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the Soviet economy stagnated, leading to widespread disillusionment with communism. In response, President Mikhail Gorbachev launched 'perestroika', a restructuring of Soviet society.
Similarly, after the Ronald Reagan era, a growing segment of the American electorate grew skeptical of the system. Inequality increased and the system seemed rigged by an entrenched ruling elite impervious to the result of elections. In 2016, Trump was elected to 'drain the swamp', promising a drastic overhaul of the American system.
Perestroika, initially proposed by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1979, aimed to modernize the stagnant Soviet system. In the 1980s, Soviet citizens frequently faced breadlines and empty store shelves, eroding faith in communism.
The Soviet government provided housing, education, transportation and free medical care, but military spending consumed 12%–17% of the national budget, draining resources from consumer goods and needs. Meanwhile, the suppression of entrepreneurship made capitalist life dull and uninspired.
Brezhnev's successor, Mikhail Gorbachev, introduced 'glasnost', or 'openness', alongside perestroika. However, entrenched bureaucrats resisted reforms, fearing loss of power and the weakening of the Soviet state.
Gorbachev's attempt to mix socialism with limited market liberalization backfired, creating confusion, supply shortages, inflation and worsening living standards. His successor, Boris Yeltsin, under the guidance of neoliberal American economists, abruptly transitioned Russia from central planning to full market liberalization. The consequences were devastating: the economy shrank by 50% in the 1990s, pushing millions into poverty.
The rushed privatization of state assets led to a fire sale of industries to well-connected insiders, who then funneled their billions abroad. The looting of national wealth only ceased after Vladimir Putin took power, reversing neoliberal excesses and implementing 'Russia First' policies that spurred economic recovery.
Three decades after Russia started its reform, Donald Trump was elected on the promise of upending Washington's bureaucracy—the 'swamp' that many voters believed controlled the country regardless of whom held office. Since the 1980s, disillusionment with the US political system had grown, with polls showing that over 60% of Americans felt the country was on the wrong track.
Neoliberal policies introduced under Reagan led to unchecked globalization and the deindustrialization of key American sectors. While the USSR marginalized entrepreneurs and elevated workers, the US did the reverse: wealth concentrated at the top, and wages stagnated. By the 2000s, millions of American workers needed two jobs to make ends meet, while CEOs earned over 300 times more than the average worker.
Despite being a billionaire with global business interests, Trump resonated with working-class frustration. Re-elected in 2024, he has since escalated his earlier war on entrenched bureaucrats, slashing government jobs, restructuring departments and initiating an unprecedented cost-cutting campaign.
On foreign policy, Trump has made waves by shifting America's stance on Ukraine. While he sent military aid to Ukraine during his first term, he has come to agree with Putin's view that prolonging the war is futile and should not have erupted in the first place.
As the world transitions to a multipolar order, Trump must navigate numerous domestic challenges. Chief among them is America's $36 trillion national debt.
For four decades, US government spending increased exponentially. In 2025, interest payments on the debt will exceed $1 trillion—more than the defense budget. The debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 120%, far above sustainable levels.
Trump faces difficult choices. Reducing the debt requires slashing military and social spending. Taxing the ultra-rich would only marginally offset the debt. Failing to reduce the debt would result in hyperinflation, devastating not only the poor but also the middle class. His handling of the national debt may ultimately define his legacy.
Trump and Putin, both successors to neoliberal globalists, now find themselves as key players in shaping a new multipolar world. Globalism will not end, but the ideological battle of the 20th century—capitalism vs. communism, left vs right, conservatism vs progressivism—is giving way to pragmatism and national self-interest.
China recognized this shift early, with Deng Xiaoping's 1980s reforms blending central planning with market liberalization. Entrepreneurs thrived within government-set boundaries and strategies that aimed at long-term common prosperity.
Trump recognizes the Chinese advantage. The biannual election cycle in the US prevents long-term planning. Asked about a drop in the stock market recently, he told an interviewer: 'What I have to do is build a strong country. You can't really watch the stock market. If you look at China, they have a 100-year perspective. We have [a perspective of] a quarter.'
The US rightly prides itself on democracy, its Constitution and personal freedoms. However, if Trump's version of perestroika fails to bring systemic political reform, his efforts will bring mostly pain and very little long-term gain.