Have you lost count of the number of times your jaw has dropped in the last few days thanks to Donald Trump? I know I have.

It doesn’t matter if you are a fan or a critic of the US president. For a moment, let’s set aside the oft-discussed crisis of liberal politics globally or why Right-wing populism has risen on the back of tone-deaf elitism.

What is evident from Trump’s last few weeks in office is this: The myth of American Exceptionalism is done and dusted.

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines American Exceptionalism as the “idea that the US is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological or religious reasons”.

We have seen this manifestation of supercilious superiority in everything, from ill-thought-through military interventions, regime-change plots, and even ponderous op-eds. The worn-out trope of a “values-based order” was cited non-stop during the Russia-Ukraine war, to poke at India’s cautious navigation. Right up until the unimaginable happened! The Americans voted with Russia, and India abstained at a United Nations vote.

Trump’s upending of policy, both foreign and domestic, is, by turns, wildly entertaining and often unstable and dangerous.

But there is a conclusive busting........

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