Trump can't broker peace between his ego and reality, forget about India-Pak ceasefire
Donald J. Trump's White House reality show is in its second season, but the script has gone stale in just about 100 days. No twists, just endless turns and U-turns. The man who dreams of being a dictator finds a humongous rock called the American Constitution in his path. He has Nobel intentions, and he is paving the road to hell with them. Somebody crown him the Universe Peacemaker already. Or if there is one for the Most Creative Self-Sabotage ever.advertisementLet's start with his domestic disaster reel. Trump's executive orders keep getting swatted down by courts. The few that limp through deliver results as impressive as his flat Diet Coke. California, the blue bastion, is seeing red as Trump's former stomping ground is literally and figuratively on fire. At the time of writing this piece, the governor has imposed an emergency in LA, and a curfew is in place. The Third World is there to stay.Trump has sent in the National Guard and Marines, going full confrontational with a state he deeply dislikes for being a Democratic den. The governor and Dems aren't budging, and protesters are clashing with law enforcement. Who'll mediate a ceasefire between them? Certainly not the Ceasefire Champion Trump, who can't even broker peace between his ego and reality.advertisement
Globally, it's a clown show, and we're running out of popcorn. Trump thought his BFF Vladimir would halt the Russia-Ukraine war. For a hot minute, it looked promising. Until Volodymyr, whom Trump once chided like a child in the Oval Office, unleashed a drone swarm that turned multiple Russian aviation assets into scrap metal. Now Putin's gone full mediaeval, and Trump's Nobel dreams are as good as his diplomatic finesse. Dead.Then there's Iran. He tried to bully them into a nuclear deal, only to dangle a carrot and get whacked with a stick. Tehran's mullahs know Trump's bark is louder than his bite in a world that no longer bows to America's faded hegemony.DJT backstabbed staunch ally Netanyahu to force a ceasefire, only for it to collapse faster than his Taj Mahal in New Orleans. Even Hamas rejected his proposals. Saudi Arabia was quick to stuff his mouth with dollars, and Qatar bribed him, plane and simple, and no typo. The result? Trump shook hands with the Syrian president, who had a US bounty on his head. His lack of scruples is the only consistent thing about him and that has been public knowledge for so long that even Pakistanis heard it. Islamabad set up a crypto council to snare his family-owned crypto enterprise into a deal and the dealmaker fell for it. Trump once called out Pakistan for using terrorism to extort money from the US. The same Trump is going around singing praises for the Pakistani leadership. Art of Deal?advertisementElsewhere, world leaders might trust America, but they look at Trump like a used-car salesman with a shady rap sheet. Unwanted but gotta buy your ride, so bear with the overbearing. Is there an ally Trump hasn't badmouthed since he took over? Canadians have died in America's wars but get treated like the '51st state' — and a blue one at that. He insists on calling the Canadian prime minister a governor. Diplomacy, anyone? Britain and Europe are 'suckers' to the 47th. His mate, VP JD Vance, picks up the slack, hurling insults when Trump's busy. The 'tremendous' tariff war with China? A dud so tremendous, Beijing's Xi must be laughing his way into the South China Sea.There's just one faux feather he flaunts like a peacock: the India-Pakistan ceasefire. A feather that doesn't belong to his cap. Since May 10, 2025, Trump has been crowing that he brokered peace using 'trade like no one's ever used.' His evidence? A tweet from Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif thanking him. India, the grown-up in the room, didn't even acknowledge his role, leaving Trump 'pissed'. Just because the US was in talks with both warring parties, Trump wants the trophy.advertisementHe's itching to throw a tantrum at the G7 summit, where he'll likely demand a standing ovation for his unverified heroics. The ceasefire happened because India, uninterested in a fight it didn't start, agreed to Pakistan's plea after the latter got a battering the generals didn't envisage.Trump's own party is whispering about damage control, praying America's global stature isn't damaged beyond repair. Since the day Trump called his best bud Elon Musk fat, the tech czar's patience has run thin. Now Musk's gunning for impeachment. Trump's alienated allies, botched ceasefires, and turned tariff wars into global eye-rolls. The Norwegians gave Obama a Nobel hoping he would stop America's wars. They should give one to Trump just to shut him up.People with no Doge in this fight, including yours truly, wonder if Trump will even finish this term. Will he course-correct? Don't bet on it. This is a man who'd rather burn the house down than admit he started the fire. The world is watching, popcorn in hand, as Trump's second season lurches toward a finale no one has scripted. Least of all, Trump.(Kamlesh Singh, a columnist and satirist, is director of news with India Today Digital)(Views expressed in this piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
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