It Has Taken 30 Years, But Trump Finally Killed George Bush's 'New World Order' - Even Britain Admits It
Thirty-four years ago, then-President George H.W. Bush began using the term “new world order” in earnest to describe what the world looked like in the post-Cold War era.
“Now, we can see a new world coming into view,” Bush said before a joint session of Congress in perhaps his most famous use of the phrase, in his speech announcing the end of the Gulf War.
“A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a ‘world order’ in which ‘the principles of justice and fair play … protect the weak against the strong,'” Bush said. “A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations.”
The reality of this vision never particularly panned out for a great many reasons, chief among them that America became too addicted to outsourcing and totalitarian powers, eager to take advantage of that, got the United States hooked on cheap goods. This “new world order” became one in which Moscow was replaced by Beijing and the KGB by the social credit score.
President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, no matter how things eventually shake out for the United States and its trading partners, announced the abrupt end of this order. Not that this is a thing to be upset about — so long as it’s done smartly.
But the fact that it’s being done at all indicates that we finally have a president willing to decouple from China in a fashion that’s both dramatic and quick. Good.
Even better if British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, one of the old new world order’s most staunch defenders, admits that it’s done for.
In an April 5 editorial for the U.K. Telegraph, Starmer, who became the U.K. head of state last year, said that while he would “continue to make the case for free and open trade,” he would “only strike a deal if it is right for British business and the security of working people.”
Which is what he had to say, of course — but the tone, while it was meant to be the latest entry in the Trump-is-completely-different-than-any-other-president repertoire, struck a note Starmer likely didn’t intend to.
“First it was [defense] and national security,” Starmer wrote. “Now it is the global economy and trade. Old assumptions can no longer be taken for granted. The world as we knew it has gone. We must rise to meet the moment.”
“We are ready for what comes next,” he continued. “The new world is less governed by established rules and more by deals and alliances. It demands the best of British virtues – cool heads, pragmatism and a clear understanding of our national interest.”
Righty-o, old chap. Sporting admission. Carry on!
Starmer went on to praise the Brits for “how we’ve responded to Russian aggression in Ukraine … We’ve convened world leaders and worked with our international allies. And we’ve boosted our [defense] spending — the highest sustained increase since the Cold War — not just for the lasting peace of Ukraine, because it’s vital to the security of the U.K.”
“That is why on tariffs, the immediate priority is to keep calm and fight for the best deal,” Starmer continued. “Nobody wins from a trade war. The economic consequences, here and across the globe, could be profound. We already have a balanced trading relationship with our American allies and work continues on a new economic prosperity deal.”
Starmer went on to say that he would “turbocharge plans that will improve our domestic competitiveness, so we’re less exposed to these kinds of global shocks. We’re building resilience, making Britain a tapestry of thriving economies, maximizing local skills, talents and opportunities.”
However, he noted that “refusal to accept a changing world is at the heart of Britain’s declinism over recent decades. For too long, our major institutions have simply tried to manage crises. The approach has been to muddle through, rather than deal with the fundamental cause.
“It’s working people who have been hit hardest,” he continued. “Nurses, builders, carers – people working harder and harder for fewer pounds in their pocket. People are fed up to the back teeth with insecurity in their lives and in their community. In this new era of global instability, people look towards the future with trepidation.”
Now, far be it from me to believe that Keir Starmer is the man to patch up the rich island tapestry that is the United Kingdom, but what he admits to desiring here is positively Trumpian.
He wants to end “declinism” and decries the fact that “our major institutions have simply tried to manage crises.” He concedes that Britons “are fed up to the back teeth with insecurity in their lives and in their community” and indicates that he’s done with trying “to muddle through, rather than deal with the fundamental cause.”
Welcome to the club, Sir Keir. MUKCA doesn’t have quite the ring to it as MAGA, but the same philosophy is at play.
This, as Substacker and former Fox News producer Kyle Becker noted, is a major shift, with Starmer “admitting what millions of working people have long suspected: the game was rigged for government insiders and globalist elites.”
“For Keir Starmer, who has spent his premiership cultivating an image of calm managerialism, this shift in tone is colossal,” Becker wrote of Starmer’s column.
“He is not just reacting to Trump’s tariffs—punitive, sweeping, and already costing British exporters dearly—he is acknowledging that the economic model of the past generation has failed.”
It’s worth noting that, in the 1999s, the Democrats would have rejoiced at what Trump was doing, too. That was back when they supported the American worker.
Now, they support the international lawyer, insurance firm, and communications company. America is second to them, at best. And Trump has just driven a stake through their little global fiefdom’s heart.
The lesson? It may have taken 30-some years, but George H.W. Bush’s “new world order” is receding into the past, having been killed off by Donald Trump’s administration. Given how that rigged order shook out for most people in the West, it couldn’t have happened any sooner.
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