The hegemon shrinks

If and when countries, big and small, start defying the hegemon, the fiction starts to collapse in on itself. The fictional world of Donald Trump and his sycophants will project a fantasy world that is increasingly unhinged. Yet the world is moving on, and the U.S. administration loses ground.

U.S. President Donald Trump's, pictured, actions from an ill-advised war on Iran to his sycophantic courting of Russian President Vladimir Putin are motivating countries that have ordinarily been in line with the U.S. to turn away, causing a decline in power for the hegemon, writes John McKay.Photograph courtesy of the White House Photo/Molly Riley

Opinion

BY JOHN MCKAY

September 14, 2026

SCARBOROUGH, ONT.—Watching the precipitous decline of a hegemon is, in its own way, ghoulishly fascinating. One country after another standing up to the outlandish demands of a declining power has the same effect as driving past an accident on the highway. You know that yo...

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