Ideas

Trump’s ‘American Dominance’ May Leave Us With Nothing

The president’s moves in Venezuela foretell a new global system.

First published in The Atlantic on January 5, 2026.

by Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic

January 8, 2026 | reading time: 6 Min.

In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the world is divided into three spheres of influence: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, all perpetually at war. Sometimes two of the states form an alliance against the third. Sometimes they abruptly switch sides. No reasons are given. Instead, the Party tells the proles, “We have always been at war with Eastasia.” Newspapers and history books are quickly rewritten to make that seem true.