Trump’s Victim Narrative Makes America Less Great; But Playing on People’s Grudges Does Win Him Votes

By Kagefumi Ueno / Special to The Japan News

11:30 JST, May 9, 2025

Among the characteristics of U.S. President Donald Trump, what particularly perplexes me is his obsessive use of popular resentment for his own political purposes. Trump has repeatedly alleged that the United States is a victim exploited by foreign countries, be they allies or non-allies.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said on April 2 when he announced sweeping tariffs including 10% global levies plus often far higher duties on a country by country basis.

This type of politics of resentment was foreseen over a decade ago by Michael J. Mazarr, who was then a professor at the National War College of the United States. In his article titled “The Age of Grievance: How to Play Resentment Politics” in Foreign Affairs in July 2014, Mazarr said that the world should be prepared for the arrival of an age of grievance in which the dynamics of international politics are no longer shaped only by geopolitical factors.

Equally important are such psychological factors as anger, grievance and a sense of alienation, he argued. He also said that political leaders have become keener to rebuild identity and to demand redemption in line with the seriousness of humiliations collectively incurred.

Mazarr referred to Russia and China as the major players of resentment politics. He also commented that jihadist groups successfully expanded their spheres of influence by capitalizing on people’s grievances in the Middle East.

His account looks as though it foretold Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current aggression against Ukraine, which started eight years later. Putin has tried to justify the outrageous assault by portraying Russia as the victim, having long been menaced by Western powers.

It was natural that Mazarr did not describe the United States as a victim, as the nation is an unquestionable winner in the world economy. The global market dominance of American tech giants is a case in point.

One could argue that the United States has even acted as a bully on a number of occasions in history. It repeatedly meddled in the domestic politics of Latin American nations such as Guatemala, Cuba, Chile and El Salvador during the Cold War. Its interventionist approach was again evident in its destructive wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

Trump’s threats to retake the Panama Canal, acquire Greenland and take over Gaza, and his efforts to force Ukraine to accept his deal with Moscow, can be traced back to this historic pattern. His order to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court also appears to show his “might-is-right” stance.

Indeed, the United States has been in a privileged position as the issuer of the key international currency, the U.S. dollar. Being a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council is yet another source of its power.

Against this backdrop, the United States has been an apparent hegemon, and therefore Trump’s repeated descriptions of the United States as a victim are perplexing and sound unacceptably phony. Trump erroneously ascribes many of the nation’s domestic problems to what he alleges to be ploys by foreign nations.

The president claims that tariffs are needed because Americans — particularly those in “Rust Belt” states that have experienced industrial decline, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan — are being victimized by a number of exporting countries.

For sure, parts of the United States have lagged in the transition toward a technology-driven economy, but U.S. tech giants have been bringing huge wealth to the country. The problem is that wealth in the United States is not fairly shared across regions or sectors. It must be the responsibility of the U.S. government — not China or other exporters — to solve this largely domestic issue.

Trump often uses this type of victim narrative to address security issues as well. Demonstrating his dissatisfaction with the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, the president said on April 10: “We pay hundreds of billions of dollars to defend [Japan], but … they don’t pay anything.”

This statement is factually wrong. Japan provides bases to the United States based on the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and pays hundreds of billions of yen every year to support the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan.

The comment sounds as if Trump was suggesting Washington had been forced to defend Japan. How could the mightiest nation on earth be forced to do anything against its will?

The U.S. policy of deploying its military forces worldwide has always been its independent and strategic decision to project its own power globally and to shape the world order in line with its own national interest. If Trump believes otherwise, he defames his predecessors and his own nation.

Trump is shrewd enough to capitalize on people’s grudges. This wrongheaded political approach was decisive in winning the throne again. Even so, a victim mentality makes American diplomacy utterly untrustworthy and unhealthy. What I don’t want to see in the coming years is him making America less great.

Ueno is a civilization essayist and a former Japanese ambassador to Guatemala (2001-04) and the Holy See (2006-10).