Trump's Greater America A Hannah Arendtian Analysis

February 20, 2025 • By Goran Dermanovic

Strategy geopolitics

Trump's Greater America A Hannah Arendtian Analysis

"Businessmen became politicians and were acclaimed as statesmen, while statesmen were taken seriously only if they talked the language of successful businessmen."
—Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Donald Trump’s recent demand that Ukraine hand over $500 billion worth of critical minerals as “payback” for U.S. aid is not merely transactional—it is a grotesque distillation of Hannah Arendt’s warning about the bourgeois capture of politics. In her seminal work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt dissected how the bourgeoisie, once confined to economic pursuits, seized political power by reframing governance as an extension of profit-driven expansion. Today, this theoretical framework is no longer abstract. Trump’s foreign policy—marked by brazen territorial greed, economic coercion, and the erasure of ethical boundaries—exposes a modern iteration of what Arendt termed the “political emancipation of the bourgeoisie.” The implications are as alarming as they are predictable.

The Bourgeoisie’s Playbook: From Gaza to Greenland

Arendt argued that the bourgeoisie, once in power, replaced the nation-state’s traditional role of safeguarding communal interests with a singular focus on infinite expansion. This ethos now defines U.S. foreign policy. The proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza’s Palestinians and transform the strip into a luxury resort complex mirrors colonial-era resource extraction, repackaged as “development.” Trump’s casual framing of Gaza as “phenomenal real estate” echoes the bourgeoisie’s historical habit of reducing human habitats to exploitable assets. Similarly, his threats to annex Greenland—a territory rich in rare earth minerals and strategic Arctic access—reveal a worldview where national sovereignty is negotiable if profits are sufficient.

The demand for $500 billion in Ukrainian minerals, meanwhile, transcends mere opportunism. Arendt warned that the bourgeoisie, when politicized, treats entire nations as balance sheets. The draft agreement leaked to The Telegraph—which grants the U.S. sweeping control over Ukraine’s ports, oil, gas, and infrastructure—reads like a corporate merger, not a diplomatic accord. By leveraging Ukraine’s vulnerability, the U.S. seeks to lock in a “lien” on its resources, ensuring perpetual economic subjugation. This is not aid; it is predation masquerading as partnership.

Imperialism Without Shame: Canada, Panama, and the “Art of the Deal”

Trump’s quip about making Canada the “51st state” may seem absurd, but it aligns with Arendt’s observation that bourgeois politics thrives on destabilizing norms. The threat to annex Panama Canal—a vital trade artery—similarly weaponizes economic dependence. By falsely claiming China “operates” the canal, Trump revives 19th-century gunboat diplomacy, where commercial interests justify military coercion. These are not isolated incidents but facets of a coherent strategy: to reshape global order into a hierarchy of vassal states, each paying tribute to American capital.

Why Arendt’s Warnings Matter Now

The tragedy here is not that Arendt’s theories are relevant—it is that we’ve ignored them. Her chapter dissects how bourgeois values corrupt politics, replacing civic duty with transactional ruthlessness. Trump’s policies—whether displacing Palestinians, strong-arming Ukraine, or bullying Denmark—are not anomalies. They are the logical endpoint of a system that venerates wealth accumulation as the highest form of statecraft.

The global response has been tepid, even complicit. European leaders fret but still court U.S.; Arab states condemn Gaza’s ethnic cleansing while quietly negotiating reconstruction contracts. This inertia plays into Trump’s hands. As Arendt noted, the bourgeoisie’s greatest strength is its ability to normalize the unthinkable, to make plunder seem pragmatic.

The Free World’s Reckoning

The “political emancipation of the bourgeoisie” demands an equally ideological counterstrategy. Nations must recognize that Trump’s U.S. is no longer a traditional hegemon but a hybrid entity—part nation-state, part corporate raider. This requires:

Economic Decoupling: Reduce dependency on U.S.-controlled supply chains, particularly in critical minerals and tech.
Legal Pushback: Treat coercive agreements like the Ukraine mineral deal as violations of international law, akin to colonial-era exploitation.
Strategic Alliances: Forge coalitions to counterbalance U.S. unilateralism, as Egypt is attempting with its Gaza reconstruction plan.

To dismiss Trump’s policies as mere eccentricity is to misunderstand their roots. They are the culmination of a decades-long fusion of corporate and political power—a fusion Arendt warned would erase the line between governance and greed. The world’s democracies have a choice: confront this imperial project now or become its subsidiaries. The lessons are written in history; the time to act is vanishing.

About Goran Dermanovic

Proud father of two, born in Zagreb and now based in Berlin. With over two decades in technology and leadership, I bring a critical lens to the intersections of theology, philosophy, politics, and tech. I previously pursued doctoral research at the University of Bonn.

Trump's Greater America A Hannah Arendtian Analysis

The Bourgeoisie’s Playbook: From Gaza to Greenland

Imperialism Without Shame: Canada, Panama, and the “Art of the Deal”

Why Arendt’s Warnings Matter Now

The Free World’s Reckoning

About Goran Dermanovic

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Recent Posts

Trump's Greater America A Hannah Arendtian Analysis

The Bourgeoisie’s Playbook: From Gaza to Greenland

Imperialism Without Shame: Canada, Panama, and the “Art of the Deal”

Why Arendt’s Warnings Matter Now

The Free World’s Reckoning

About Goran Dermanovic

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