The American empire is over: Richard Wolff on Trump, tariffs and the rising power of BRICS
Richard Wolff appears on UpFront with Marc Lamont Hill
On UpFront with Marc Lamont Hill, Richard Wolff examines the effects of Trump-era policies on the U.S. economy and global influence. The conversation covers deep federal spending cuts, tax breaks favoring the wealthy, and the destabilizing impact of tariffs. As American dominance wanes and China’s influence grows, Wolff calls for a shift from confrontation to cooperation in foreign policy. The discussion challenges conventional views on imperialism and stresses the need for economic collaboration to navigate a rapidly evolving world order.
Not just economics ! - War's involve numbers : Populations: China 1400 million, USA 330m, EU 450m (330 + 450 = 780), Russia 144m, India 1430m, Israel 10m, Iran 89m, Egypt 113m, DRC 100m - who are you going to fight? China will overwhelm you, easy as wink - far better to spend money on collaboration and constructive ideas, and to invest in poor populations (reduces terrorism!) - https://jim-quinn6.blogspot.com/ and "Tornado New Horizons" book for PRC clarity and NATO's democracies are "kettles calling pots black". Who listens to Good Engineers? Jim Quinn, UK.
By Ronald J. Botelho
Ph.D. Student, Complex Sciences
On April 14, Americans witnessed something unprecedented yet underreported: a President of the United States defying a unanimous Supreme Court ruling—publicly, gleefully, and without consequence.
In a choreographed Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, former President Donald Trump signaled something deeper than diplomatic theater. He made clear that constitutional rulings are now optional, and the executive branch is prepared to treat judicial oversight as an inconvenience, not a mandate.
At the center of the confrontation is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a U.S. resident removed in violation of multiple court orders. But this case is no longer just about one man. It is about a system cracking open at its weakest point: enforcement.
Legal analyst Harry Litman called it a “criminal conspiracy to deprive a man of his rights.” But there’s an even more dangerous precedent: the executive’s casual fabrication of legal authority in front of cameras. In one moment, Stephen Miller claimed that the Supreme Court had ruled “9–0 in our favor.” That’s a demonstrable lie. In the next moment, the administration submitted that video—complete with the lie—as part of a legal filing.
There is no clearer sign that we are entering an era where reality is retrofitted to executive needs, and truth becomes just another political tool.
The administration’s defense? That foreign affairs fall under executive control, and thus, the judiciary has no say. This is not just flawed constitutional logic—it is the rationale of authoritarianism. It allows the President to bypass law under the guise of international discretion. As historian Timothy Snyder has written, autocracies flourish when people are pushed into legal grey zones, rendered stateless or rightless through bureaucratic theater.
What’s chilling is not just the act—it’s the reaction. No resignations. No statements of opposition from within the administration. Instead: laughter.
This was not a misstep. It was a message.
And we must be clear-eyed about what it means: if the executive can ignore a Supreme Court order and suffer no political cost, then the judiciary has been functionally silenced. If citizens can be rendered voiceless through legal fiction, then we are no longer governed by law but by will.
We’ve long discussed a “tipping point” for American democracy. That point is no longer ahead of us—it’s in the rearview mirror. The question is not how close we are to crisis, but how far we are willing to let this drift continue.
A functioning democracy cannot survive when its highest legal authority is dismissed as irrelevant. The erosion of the rule of law doesn’t begin with tanks in the streets. It begins with Oval Office meetings like this one—smiling, rehearsed, and livestreamed.
Now is not the time for silence.