How Trump’s America First Became America Alone

In this news round-up for March 20th 2026: Iran's strike on Qatar has triggered what energy analysts are calling an "Armageddon scenario" for global gas markets — and Trump's denial that the US knew about the Israeli attack that provoked it lacks credibility. President Trump invoked Pearl Harbor during the latest Oval Office struggle session, this time with Japan's prime minister Takaichi. Then praised Japan for support that seems somewhat theoretical. And eleven weeks after US forces arrested Venezuela's president, we catch up with what's been happening there since.

According to one of his best allies in the Senate, President Donald Trump is more furiously angry about having none of America's allies agree to join it dealing with the consequences of his illegal war on Iran, than he's ever been seen. How did we reach this moment? From the time when the consensus seemed to be to flatter and appease Trump, to the point where former allies of the United States are content to defy his wishes - and have clearly reached the conclusion that the consequences of so doing are little different to those of doing what Trump wants. And hence, suddenly 'America First' has truly become 'America Alone'. Let's discuss.

In the last few days, the administration of President Donald Trump has been going hard after the media - any journals or networks that have reported the slightest bad news about Trump's Iran war have been getting schooled on being more patriotic. That could just be so much business as usual - except that the FCC Chair Brendan Carr has pitched in to suggest that 'fake news' about the war would be remembered at licence renewal time, and defence secretary Pete Hegseth has been publicly pitching for the takeover of CNN to see a more compliant political stance. Is American freedom of the press in serious trouble? Let's discuss.

President Trump told NATO allies, as well as countries like Japan, South Korea and even main geopolitical rival China, that they must send warships to help open the Strait of Hormuz - or else. This would be bad for NATO. He would delay his planned visit to Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping. And so far, having spent the last year being insulted, threatened, tariffed and bullied - all of those countries are saying 'no thanks'. Is this the pivotal moment where the US, having realised it needs alliances, will cut them off one and for all? Let's discuss.

It's not a secret that Elon Musk's xAI platform, Grok, is not entirely like other AI models. Specifically, he has gone to great lengths to ensure it absorbs his ethos and "anti-woke" mindset, even as he has been promising it would overtake all the other models any day soon. However, it seems not all has been well in xAI - and Musk has been clearing out the old guard, firing people all over, and talking publicly about reapproaching people who were rejected for job interviews who may have been what they needed after all. Could it be that training an AI on ideology is NOT the most effective way? Maybe - but it seems a long way distant that such a thought would occur to Musk. Let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday March 13th 2026. Pentagon insiders reveal that Trump's war on Iran has burned through years of critical munitions in two weeks of his illegal war on Iran. And this could seriously weaken the US in dangerous times. As the Pentagon tries to isolate and damage AI company Anthropic for ethical restrictions on what its system will do, Microsoft has stepped out, risking billions in government contracts, to stand alongside it. And Trump's threats and insults against Canada continue to backfire as Mark Carney's government comes close to an overall parliamentary majority.

The alarm bells across the world are really starting to sound loudly now, as the short-term effects on the cost and availability of energy and fertiliser is hitting the citizens of countries across the world. President Donald Trump's war of choice with Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz. He has proven unable to reopen it, and the future consequences if this remains the case for an extended period have been predicted as being 'catastrophic'. Let's do the quickest of canters across the globe to see what's happening right now - and reflect on Trump's latest contribution where he shows zero interest in any of it.

Today, the Financial Times reported on a leaked proposal for Russia to engage in a disinformation and influence campaign in support of the re-election of autocrat Viktor Orban. This comes as his opponent in next month's election, Peter Magyar, is significantly ahead in independent polling. But President Vladimir Putin does not want to lose his best ally in Europe. President Donald Trump likewise. And hence begins what may be a template election for Russian and American influence campaigns on behalf of populists across Europe over the coming years. The stakes could not be higher. Let's discuss.

Trump has started talking in terms of the war being complete, and stressing that it was just an 'excursion' - a sign, according to stock markets and commodity traders, that he is looking pretty urgently for an off-ramp from the Iran war. Is Trump, some are asking, about to TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) out of the Iran war? Well, unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. In a war, it doesn't fall to just one side whether it stops or not. And, in this case, there is plenty of evidence that the consequences will be significant even if it stopped tomorrow. And then there are questions about all the dead civilians, and the fact that Trump's department of defence deliberately dismantled the programme that aimed to prevent innocent deaths. Let's discuss.

Even before Iran had announced the selection of its new Supreme Leader, President Trump and Israel had said they were intending to assassinate whoever it was - unless Trump was involved in the selection. It's a breathtaking statement of imperial ambition - and one that has not been revised after the revealing of Mojtaba Khamenei as that leader. It's also a major breach of the last 400 years of statecraft. This is not a new norm the world wants to set, and yet who is really standing up to defend the old order? Let's discuss.