Afrasianet - Zahi Wehbe - If history teaches us anything, it's that empires that follow the narcissism of their rulers are doomed to collapse, and that leaders who confuse their personal interests with the common good end up destroying their countries before time destroys them.
When overwhelming power and paranoia are mixed, the scales of civilization are turned upside down. That difficult moment when the ruler of the state becomes a prisoner of his narcissism, believing that the world revolves only around his own axis, is the very moment when the international order begins to disintegrate and decline.
In human history, there is incalculable evidence that the most dangerous thing that can threaten nations is not always external enemies, but a leader who confuses his voice with the voice of truth, with his own self-interest and the common good.
In our time, US President Donald Trump provides a stark example of this dangerous equation, as the world has become the scene of a personality that does not recognize borders and does not respect rules, and the superpower turns into a predatory beast, a tool of destruction rather than a building, and a source of chaos and instability.
But the question is worth pondering: Are we just dealing with an individual case of "paranoia," or does Trump reflect a deeper shift in the very political and cultural fabric of America?
Pathological Narcissism
Before Trump is a political phenomenon, he is a psychological state that deserves deep reflection. Many observers have diagnosed Trump in accordance with "narcissistic personality disorder" in all its haunting details: that inflated sense of self, a constant preoccupation with delusions of infinite success and omnipotence, and an almost complete lack of empathy for others.
She is the person who sees the world as a mirror of her greatness, and in others tools that can be used to achieve her goals without regard for their feelings or even their rights.
But the greatest danger begins when this figure is given the keys to decision making in the most powerful country in history. Narcissism turns from a psychological dysfunction into a destructive geopolitical force. Trump, as analysts describe him, sees the world only through himself.
He is "the worst possible example of a right-wing populist" not only because of his ideological extremism, but also because of his unique combination of narcissism, malice and a willingness to use state power to harm his enemies and help his friends. He is a figure who does not tolerate criticism and does not tolerate defeat, and any opposition turns into a Internal or external - to an enemy to be crushed.
Paranoia
If narcissism is the seed, paranoia is the fruit. The self-indulgent leader inevitably begins to see conspiracies at every corner, and the world turns into a perpetual battleground between the strong who deserve sovereignty and the weak who deserve to perish.
From his childhood, Trump's consciousness was shaped by the language of "fighting" and "domination"; his father, who taught him that compassion is weakness and success is cruelty, and the military school in which he fostered the spirit of competition at the expense of cooperation, all of these factors formed a personality that sees life as an existential battle in which there is no calm and no compromises.
This existential worldview explains why Trump's foreign policy has abandoned all the tools of traditional diplomacy in favor of brute force language. Abrupt sanctions, military threats, and parade withdrawals from international organizations all reflect an "I'm against them" vision that does not recognize common interests or universal human values. He sees yesterday's allies as potential traitors, international treaties as shackles to be broken, and in international law as mere words that do not stand up to the will of the powerful.
Dismantling the world order
What the world is witnessing today with Trump's return to the White House is not just a shift in American policy, but a project of systematic destruction of the international order that the United States itself built after World War II. In just one year, we have seen incredible events, contradicting all his election promises to Americans: support for the genocide in Gaza, political coverage and support for the destruction of parts of Lebanon and the violation of its sovereignty, a fierce war and joint aggression with Israel against Iran and the assassination of its leader and Supreme Leader, and a military aggression on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president, threats to forcibly annex Greenland from a NATO ally, a mass withdrawal from dozens of international organizations, and proposals for "peace" in Ukraine at his whim.
These are not tactical mistakes or isolated decisions, but rather a reflection of a mindset that sees the international order as merely an obstacle to its desires. The Munich Security Conference report described this approach as "destructive ball politics" with Trump at the top of the list of "demolition men" who take the axe to the foundations of the existing order.
But here international relations researchers ask a legitimate question: Was the old order viable at all? The international order that America built after 1945 was based on assumptions that are no longer entirely true: absolute Western hegemony, European centralism, and the stability of alliances. Trump, with his ruthlessness and crudeness, asked an embarrassing question: Why should America pay the price for protecting rich allies who are not paying their fair share?
This is not to justify his methods, but it does place the phenomenon in its broader context: it is the crisis of the traditional ruling elite, and the rise of a populist paradigm that redefines the concept of the "national interest" in a timely and utilitarian way. The result is a world in which rules are receded in favor of deals, in which multilateral institutions are weakened in favor of unequal bilateral relations, and trust between allies is eroded until the aging Western alliance is in danger of collapsing.
The New Feudal
But the most dangerous part of this equation is the frantic quest for the fame of absolute control. Trump does not want power as a means to political ends, but as an end in itself, as a constant affirmation of his greatness, and as a theater from which the lights are not turned off.
This is where the paranoia reaches its peak when the American president decides to create his own "Peace Council" and designs its statutes in such a way that he is the permanent president for life, the only one with the membership decision, and the sole control of his finances, as if he were a Roman emperor reshaping the world at will.
It is no coincidence that Trump uses composite images in which he appears to be the owner of territory that does not belong to him, or threatens to use military force against American citizens, or declares that he wants to control Venezuela's oil resources without any regard for its sovereignty, and almost says that he is authorized to choose Iran's Supreme Leader.
This behavior reflects a dangerous shift from the concept of the leader who serves the state to the concept of the "new feudalism" that sees human geography as mere real estate that can be bought or occupied. He seeks to subjugate the whole world and run it according to his crazy whims, as if reality were just a substance that can be shaped according to his whims.
Between decadence and transformation
Paradoxically, these practices, which are supposed to strengthen America's power and hegemony, actually do the exact opposite. Even those who viewed the United States as the protector of the international order began to see it as a source of threat and instability. Polls conducted by the Munich Security Report show that almost half of the world's population believes that Trump's policies are not good for the world, and there is a growing sense of collective helplessness and panic about the future.
This is the essence of the decadence that afflicts states when they are ruled by those who have absolute power and paranoia: institutions begin to erode, moral standards decline, and the checks and balances that protect democracy are weakened.
At home, we see a systematic attack on universities, the media, and the legal establishment, attacks that observers describe as "reminiscent of Hitler's first year in power." Abroad, we see a force to lead the world that puts it in front of a new colonialism and new imperialism, and takes it back to the ages of brute force that we thought humanity had surpassed.
But objective analysis also requires acknowledging that Trump is not an isolated phenomenon. More than 74 million Americans voted for him, and he reflects profound shifts in American society: working-class anger at globalization, white sense of loss of demographic dominance, and voter frustration with traditional elites that have failed to improve their lives.
Trump's narcissistic rhetoric resonates with those who see themselves as victims of the "old order," hence its danger: it transforms legitimate social anger into destructive energy directed at external and internal "enemies."
History Lessons and Other Perspectives
If history teaches us anything, it is that empires that follow the narcissism of their rulers are doomed to collapse, and that leaders who confuse their personal interests with the common good end up destroying their countries before time destroys them.
We have seen this in the fall of the Roman emperors who were blinded by their greatness, in the collapse of absolute monarchies that thought their people were mere subjects, and in the disintegration of modern dictatorships that bet on power and forgot that true governance requires wisdom and humility.
From the perspective of comparative political philosophy, the current American model raises profound questions. Governance is not just a political administration but a moral state. The concept of a "virtuous ruler" is based on humility, listening to advisers, and taking moral responsibility to the governed. The stark contrast between this model and the narcissistic leader model makes the American phenomenon a concern not only for Washington's adversaries, but even for its traditional allies.
The question remains: Will the world wake up before it's too late? Will democratic institutions be able to withstand the storms of unbridled narcissism? Will voters realize that a leader who promises them greatness could lead them to the abyss?
Perhaps Trump is only a symptom of a deeper disease: the crisis of so-called "liberal democracies" in the face of the rise of populism, the disintegration of the middle class, and the decline of Western hegemony. He is not the cause of the crisis alone, but he embodies it in its ugliest form: a leader without conscience leading a nation without a compass, in a world that can no longer tolerate more paranoia.
In the end, man remains the maker of his own history, and awareness of the seriousness of this phenomenon is the first step towards overcoming it. Just as narcissism is a diagnosable disease, the degeneration it causes can be resisted, provided that we learn from history that the real power is not in controlling others, but in the ability to tame oneself and respect humanity everywhere.
