Is Trump making America great again?

In November, 2024, as I walked out of the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) offices in Washington DC in the company of a colleague, James Gould, a Chief Reporter at Downtown Radio/Cool FM in Northern Ireland, I was awestruck by a Tesla Cybertruck parked outside.

I asked James to take a few pictures of me posing just close to the “phenomenon.”

As I posed, an elderly woman came towards the two of us fuming, her anger not targeting us but the owner of the company responsible for the manufacturing of the Cybertruck, Tesla.

The anger was not also targeted at Tesla directly but its owner, Elon Musk.

I could not dictate any possibility of insanity in the old lady but I concluded that the anger was targeted at the man Musk was supporting ahead of the US 2024 elections that the ICFJ had invited us to cover, Donald Trump.

Musk was supporting Trump ahead of Kamala Harris for the position of the 47th President of the United States of America.

As I covered the elections, one thing I concluded was Trump was not winning this judging on the number of people I had spoken to since arriving in Washington DC.

He was not well liked, at least I concluded judging from a snap survey via interviews and observations I did in Washington DC and Detroit, Michigan.

But the results of the elections showed otherwise, there was a class of people wanting him to win for they wanted to “Make America Great Again” his punchline during the campaign.

The MAGA movement, often referred to simply as MAGA, or Make America Great Again, was founded on the belief that the United States was once a great country but has lost this status owing to foreign influence.

MAGA members felt that this fall from grace could be reversed through “America first” policies that would provide a greater degree of economic protectionism, greatly reduce immigration, particularly from developing countries, and encourage or enforce what MAGA members consider to be traditional American values.

How the aggression against Iran has exposed the US?

They felt Trump had all the attributes of a character who would make America great again under the MAGA campaign.

However, the ongoing, but temporarily halted US-Israel aggression against Iran may have exposed America.

Iran has refused to be bullied and confronted the US head-on.

“The Iran war has exposed the US,” Wellington Zimuto, a political analyst said. “Trump has made threats he did not implement until he was dragged to the negotiating table and this shows a fundamental misjudgement that has exposed the US by the President,” he added.

Trump is not only fighting against Iran in this war. He is facing to many battles.

The US President is faced with internal criticism with local politicians in the US questioning their leader’s mental state after he issued “an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to Open the Strait of Hormuz using unpalatable words and describing Iran as “you crazy bastards.”

He went on to threaten to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.

Observers felt the language was uncivilized and unpresidential, no good way to make America great again.

Even his former allies are not happy with him

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch ally turned Trump critic, said everyone in the Trump administration who claims to be a Christian needed to “beg forgiveness from God” and intervene in the President’s “madness”.

The former Republican congresswoman wrote: “I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit. I’m not defending Iran but let’s be honest about all of this.”

Greene argued that the Strait is closed because the US and Israel started the “unprovoked war” against Iran based on “the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.”

After years of loyalty, Greene broke from Trump last June as she criticized his strikes on Iran as backtracking on his campaign promise to put “America first” and avoid expensive foreign wars.

She was referring to the 12-Day war of June to July 2025 where the US backed Israel launched “Operation Rising Lion” that involved significant strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and top commanders, with Iran retaliating via ballistic missiles and drones, escalating regional tensions and causing substantial casualties.

Greene believes this is not the reason millions voted for Trump “overwhelmingly” in 2024.

“This [is] NOT what we promised the American people when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024, I know, I was there more than most. This is not making America great again, this is evil.”

Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said Trump’s rant resembled that of “an unhinged madman”.

“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”

An independent Senator, Bernie Sanders described the diatribe as “dangerous and mentally unbalanced”.

The ‘Jesus Christ’ depiction and the Catholics fury

The U.S. President this week posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically support him, before deleting the post on Monday.

The post on Trump’s Truth Social platform, which Trump later said was meant to portray him as a doctor, came amid his escalating feud with Pope Leo, who has criticized ‌the war that started with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran as inhumane. Shortly before publishing the image, the president posted a lengthy screed against Pope Leo, calling him “WEAK on crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

A greater power needs no fight with the Vatican and a number of Catholics in the U.S are unimpressed with Trump.

They are unhappy, not just because of Trump’s public friction with Pope Leo, but at a much deeper level over the Iran war.

“I pray that all of this will clarify for people that we don’t look to a national leader, we don’t look to those who have the most money or the most weapons. We look to Christ,” says Bishop Joseph Strickland.

These words come from a man who, only last year, participated in a prayer event to “consecrate” the president’s Mar-a-Lago home.

In 2024, Strickland delivered the keynote speech at CPAC where Trump was the guest of honour. In 2020, he addressed a march of Trump supporters calling to overturn the election results.

Differing with Trump on the Iran war

“I do not believe this conflict meets the criteria of a just war. I stand with the Holy Father and his call for peace. This is not about politics. It’s about moral truth,” he told the BBC, saying the scale of death and suffering faced by innocent civilians meant the war could never be viewed as “just”.

More than that, he has challenged the White House on its handling of the war and encouraged other Catholics to do the same.

“It becomes very dark when religion is used to justify immoral behaviour… using religion to justify especially dropping bombs is contradicting what the faith is about,” says Bishop Strickland.

Not even NATO or EU allies have been spared of Trump’s rantings

Trump has not only focused his diatribe on Iran but has also turned his lethal tongue on perceived allies in NATO and the European Union.

He has spoken tough against United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the British are livid.

A former UK national security advisor, Lord Peter Ricketts has since warned that the United Kingdom should “completely forget” the idea of a special relationship with the US and can “no longer rely” on Washington as an ally.

Starmer’s relationship with Trump has soured in recent weeks, as the US president repeatedly criticized the Prime Minister over his response to the war on Iran.

Spain, France and other key US allies have also not been spared Trump’s wrath and observers insist this is no way making America great again.

How Trump’s America First killed Africa

America’s greatness, at least in the African context, was measured by how the US was “assisting” countries to promote human rights and democracy through various of its initiatives.

All that is gone and Africa has different reactions to that with condemnation of the Trump administration high.