The MAGA presence in Pacific island region is not about political progress or economic development

These Islands By Robert Underwood

The whole essence of Making America Great Again is to look backward to a previous time and imagine that you can return

to those glory days. It is about repetition. Moreover, it is a feeling, not a policy. It is a nostalgic statement; it is not forward-looking. It is a wishful statement that rejects the present and fears the future. In that nostalgia, the lessons of World War II are used to continue the militarization of our existence.

For those of us in these islands, which are directly controlled by or heavily influenced by the United States, it is a confusing

statement. Are we supposed to look backward to the time when America ran everything in these islands? Are we supposed to be commemorating or nostalgically looking back to the military government?

Are we supposed to wistfully look at a history of nuclear testing, CIA bases on Saipan, the taking of land without just compensation, and bring back to life America’s greatness as it was in the post-WWII era?

There was a time when the United States dominated the international gross domestic product. Its peak was 40 percent in 1960. According to the World Bank, it is about 25 percent today. China’s share is 19 percent and growing.

During the Cold War, the international order was regulated through a variety of American-engineered alliances in Asia and Europe. This global order was buttressed through military bases in Guam and surrounding Asian countries, while the rest of the Micronesian region was an “American lake” through something called “strategic denial.”

The Cold War came to a victorious end with the collapse of the Soviet Union, or so we thought. It has been replaced with an international order that is no longer regulated by alliances but instead by “power politics” as it exists in the mind of the Trump administration. The only problem is that in today’s world, the economic, diplomatic and military power is more diffused in uncertain ways.

Internationally, MAGA wants to take us back to America being as great as they think the United States once was, but without the economic bandwidth or commitment to alliances that sustained it during the last half of the 20th century.

When the United States spoke, the world listened and generally went along with its international policies. There was a kind of global order. MAGA wants to return to the good old days without the commitment to political progress, democratic principles and the rule of international law, which Americans used to proclaim fondly.

The old international rules are being replaced by the “law of the jungle.” The only problem is that the American lion in the 21st-century international order has fewer teeth and a softer paw, while it roars loudly.

In the middle of the 20th century, a young President Kennedy proclaimed, “I look forward to a future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.” 

Many of us coming to maturity in the last century believed in American ideals as stated, even as they were imperfectly implemented. Those of us in the island Pacific wanted to be “more American” because the United States represented the best international hope for the future.

Today, the MAGA presence in the island Pacific is not about political progress or economic development. It is all about using the islands to counteract the geostrategic competition that China poses. It isn’t about more American investments, political development or diplomatic initiatives. It is about weapons systems and preparation for the use of the islands in a potential conflict. It is a defensive position that speaks of “island chains” without planning a future that speaks of “island connections.”

President Trump came into his second term proclaiming that “the golden age of America has begun” and, with mind-boggling braggadocio, stated, “God saved me so that I could make America great again.” Apparently, God only cares about America and not so much the rest of the world.

This return to greatness is measured in the lethality of the military, not the strength of ideas. It is operationalized in the phrase “peace through strength,” which can mean anything from building radar stations in Palau to ending USAID-sponsored vaccination programs in the FSM. Peace through peaceful initiatives is viewed as weak. The American Peace Corps now wears a uniform.

The generally positive view of America’s promise in these islands and the practice of MAGA do not overlap. The promise that America held out to the world was democratic government, self-determination, increased economic activity and island connections. Instead, we have islands being more firmly connected to American military initiatives and the reduction of domestic assistance via threats of cuts in health and education programs. These will impact islanders who live in these islands as well as those in the United States.

The connection of islands to each other via regional action is encouraged only as members of the second island chain. Military-styled regional groups and initiatives are funded and facilitated.

In the right-wing media, the islands that we inhabit were “won” during WWII by American lives to fulfill a MAGA-style purpose today. They weren’t conquered to defeat Japan or to liberate islanders.

Through this convoluted logic, they were destined to be military bases and/or places for the use of the United States at almost any cost. If it means nuclear testing or permanent military bases, that is just a price someone has to pay.

If it means delaying self-determination or not living up to the promises of political and economic development, then it is an unfortunate reality that we just have to deal with. Islanders are paying the price again as they did during and after WWII.

In that sense, we are being thrown back in time like MAGA wants us to be.

An admiral who visited the island last week noted that the people of Guam remember WWII in living detail. “Guam’s people know service and resilience,” he said.

Yes, they do. I hope MAGA doesn’t translate to MGSA: Make Guam Suffer Again.

Dr. Robert Underwood is the former president of the University of Guam and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Send feedback to anacletus2010@gmail.com.

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