The United States may be entering a “post-America world” as Donald Trump’s second presidency dismantles the alliances and institutions that once anchored global order, according to New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada. Writing amid rising geopolitical tension, Lozada argues that Washington’s credibility — already shaken after Trump’s first presidency — has now been fundamentally broken. What was once dismissed as temporary disruption, he says, now looks like structural retreat. Allies Stop Waiting for Washington When Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021, he promised that “America was back”. But the world never fully believed it. Lozada says that scepticism has been vindicated by Trump’s return. Evidence, he argues, can be heard in blunt warnings from Mark Carney, who recently told audiences the global system shaped after World War II is finished: the old order, he said, “is not coming back”. For allies, the calculation has shifted. The risk that Washington could swing sharply between international engagement and isolation every four years now looms too large to ignore. Pax Americana ‘Gone for Good’ At the heart of the argument is the collapse of what strategists once called Pax Americana — the network of alliances and institutions that helped stabilise global politics after 1945. Lozada writes that Trump has shredded those arrangements while diminishing America’s authority abroad. The result: the United States can no longer credibly claim the role of leader of the free world. A stark example, he says, came during Trump’s confrontation with Iran, launched after months of alienating allies. When partners refused to join the effort, Trump brushed them off, declaring the US didn’t need anyone else. Power Without Responsibility That posture exposes a deeper contradiction. According to Lozada, Washington still wants the advantages of global dominance but rejects the burdens that come with it — defending allies, maintaining open markets and investing in diplomatic leadership. Launching military action while expecting reluctant partners to fall into line, he argues, highlights the growing gap between America’s ambitions and its willingness to sustain the system that once underpinned them. Pressure at Home Mirrors Decline Abroad The warning signs, Lozada says, are also visible inside the US. Policies targeting immigration, research funding and universities risk undermining the very strengths that powered American influence. In the influential book The Post-American World, author Fareed Zakaria predicted a future where US dominance would fade but its institutions — especially higher education and immigration — would sustain global leadership. Lozada argues the opposite trajectory is now unfolding. A Superpower Walking Away If the trend continues, the world may face something historically rare: a superpower voluntarily stepping back from leadership. “This is a historical aberration,” Lozada writes — a moment when the United States appears to be abandoning the role it built after World War II, convinced that global leadership is a burden rather than an advantage. Trump sets stage for a 'post-America world': NYT reporter
