You win, you win, you win and in the end, it doesn’t matter a hell of a lot. Trump is surely the most extreme test case of this proposition in our time. It’s not hard to pin the ‘empire’ charge on Trump’s predecessors, who have jealously guarded US custody of the world system. But if there is one thing that seems to complicate (though not mitigate) his bottomless nihilism, it is the market. Trump at least believes in something: the economy is, in the end, the only authority he recognises.

Source: The Irish Times March 22, 2026 21:16 UTC