Appointing a Political Novice as President The American Dilemma and the Contradictions of Donald Trump at Home and Abroad
Written on 22 April, 2026
Toba Alabi. tobalabi@yahoo.com
The return of Donald Trump to the centre of American and global politics has revived scholarly debates on leadership, imperial power, and systemic instability in contemporary international relations.
His emergence as a political figure outside traditional elite training raises theoretical concerns that align with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto 1848, where they argue that political authority is fundamentally shaped by material conditions and class relations rather than individual agency alone. From this standpoint, leadership is not merely personal but structurally produced.
The theoretical foundation of this analysis is anchored in the Theory of Imperialism. In Lenin’s Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism 1917, imperialism is defined as a system driven by monopoly capital and global competition for resources.
He argues that when capitalism reaches its advanced stage, coercion replaces cooperation in international relations. Rosa Luxemburg in The Accumulation of Capital 1913 similarly explains that capitalist expansion depends on continuous penetration of new geographical and economic spaces.
Joseph Schumpeter in The Sociology of Imperialism 1919 adds that imperial behaviour may persist even when it is no longer economically rational due to institutional inertia and elite interests.
Within this theoretical framework, Trump’s governance style reflects structural contradictions of imperialism rather than personal inconsistency alone. His reliance on tariffs as instruments of geopolitical pressure corresponds with Lenin’s argument that advanced capitalist states increasingly weaponize economic relations when global cooperation weakens.
The imposition of trade pressure on allies in pursuit of strategic goals such as Greenland reflects this coercive logic, where economic instruments are transformed into political weapons, thereby destabilising interdependent global systems.
The Greenland question itself is consistent with Luxemburg’s argument that capitalism requires constant expansion into new territories for accumulation and strategic advantage.
However, the pursuit of Greenland through economic pressure and diplomatic tension illustrates the contradictions of late imperial expansion, where attempts at spatial control generate resistance and strain alliances.
Schumpeter’s interpretation further suggests that such behaviour may not be strategically rational but instead reflects institutional inertia and symbolic displays of power.
These contradictions are also evident in the diplomatic sphere. The confrontation between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV highlights a deeper erosion of ideological legitimacy.
Marx and Engels emphasise that ruling systems require not only coercion but also moral and ideological consent. When this legitimacy weakens, imperial authority becomes increasingly dependent on force and economic pressure, a condition that Lenin identifies as characteristic of declining imperial systems.
A more severe manifestation of these contradictions is found in the ongoing war with Iran and the fragile ceasefire arrangement in 2026.
Although the United States extended the ceasefire, Iran has not fully accepted its terms and continues to challenge American strategic expectations.
This reflects Lenin’s argument that imperial expansion generates resistance in peripheral and semi peripheral states. Iranian resistance in the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates that even overwhelming military power does not guarantee political compliance.
The Iranian situation also illustrates Luxemburg’s theory that expansionist systems inevitably produce structural opposition.
Trump’s simultaneous use of coercive rhetoric and diplomatic extension of ceasefire terms reveals inconsistency in imperial strategy. Schumpeter would interpret this as irrational persistence, where policy becomes reactive rather than coherent, exposing the declining strategic discipline of the imperial centre.
At the domestic level, Marx and Engels argue that capitalist systems inevitably generate internal contradictions that manifest as political crises.
Under Trump’s leadership, rising inequality, political polarization, and institutional distrust reflect these contradictions. When external expansion becomes unstable, internal tensions intensify, producing fragmentation within the domestic political order.
The personalization of political authority further deepens this crisis. Schumpeter notes that in late stage imperial systems, institutional governance is often replaced by personalized decision making.
In such conditions, political authority becomes increasingly dependent on individual impulse rather than bureaucratic rationality, weakening strategic coherence and long term planning.
The cumulative effect of these developments is a gradual erosion of American global dominance. Lenin’s theory predicts that imperialism contains internal contradictions that ultimately undermine its stability.
Marx and Engels similarly argue that no dominant system is permanent, while Luxemburg demonstrates that expansion generates resistance that accelerates systemic stress. Trump’s leadership therefore functions as an accelerator of pre existing structural contradictions.
Ultimately, the American dilemma reflected in the leadership of Donald Trump is not merely a question of political competence but a manifestation of systemic crisis within global capitalism.
The Iran war, Greenland ambition, tariff coercion, and diplomatic breakdowns collectively demonstrate the weakening of hegemonic authority. In Schumpeter’s terms, this represents the persistence of imperial behaviour even after its rational foundations have eroded.
References
Alabi, T 2019 Federalism and Nigeria’s National Question Kaduna: Joyce Publishers
Lenin, V I 1917 Imperialism The Highest Stage of Capitalism
Luxemburg, R 1913 The Accumulation of Capital
Marx, K and Engels, F 1848 The Communist Manifesto
Schumpeter, J A 1919 The Sociology of Imperialism
Toba Alabi is Professor of Political Science, Defence and Security Studies. (08036787582)