Trump Brings Back an Old Idea: Imperialism

Political theorist Hannah Arendt warned that imperialism was an element of totalitarianism. What does it mean here?

An 1899 political cartoon reflecting America's imperial ambitions following quick and total victory in the Spanish American War of 1898.

Having grown up long after the collapse of European empires, the notion of imperialism as an animating force in world politics seemed quaint, like something one would read about in a dusty book someplace. However, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Chinese leadership's threats against Taiwan have brought back imperialism -- the practice of ruling over countries with force or the threat of force -- as a driver in international politics. Still, imperialism seemed decidedly foreign until Donald Trump's inaugural speech on January 20, when he spoke about U.S. imperialism:

President [William] McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States — the United States, I mean, think of this, spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal. We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. And Panama's promise to us has been broken…China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back.

The notion of the U.S. retaking the Panama Canal by force is so outlandish that it is tempting to dismiss this imperialist rhetoric as a joke or explain it away as the first move in a 4D chess game. However, even if it is just talk, it is worth asking why he is talking like this.

One reason may be because Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping both use the language of imperialism, and by talking tough, he thinks he can match these leaders. This would mean the death of the rules-based international order which developed after the end of World War II, the cornerstone of which is the norm not to change borders by force. Ukraine and Taiwan would fare far worse in a world where this norm gets tossed in the dustbin of history. With Trump wanting to make a "deal" to end the Ukraine war, his rhetoric gives Putin cover to hold onto the 20 percent of Ukraine's sovereign territory which Russia controls. With respect to Taiwan, Trump hasn't committed to defending the island. (Former President Joe Biden did.) His rhetoric to "take back" the Panama Canal provides Xi cover to "take back" Taiwan. 

Imperialism is not only a foreign policy issue; the political theorist Hannah Arendt observed that it serves domestic political ends. Writing in The Origins of Totalitarianism, she said that imperialism marked a new innovation in politics: the expansion of political power without a commensurate body politic. "Power became the essence of political action and the center of political thought when it was separated from the political community which it should serve," wrote Arendt. She could have been describing Trump's speech, too. As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein noted, Trump talked very little about what laws he might pass and almost entirely about executive action; in the first days of his presidency he has issued an executive order overturning birthright citizenship and pardons to almost all of the January 6 rioters. For Trump, power--and what he can get away with alone--is the essence of political action.

To Arendt, imperialism also represented the confluence of businessmen and politicians. She wrote that during imperialism's heyday, "businessmen became politicians and were acclaimed as statesmen, while statesmen were taken seriously only if they talked the language of successful businessmen."