川普要把世界带到那裡？

2024 年选举之后，川普以「捲土重来」之姿，再次走进白宫，成為美国史上少见的非连任回锅总统。 从那一天起，整个世界都在问同一个问题：这一回，他要把美国，乃至全世界，带向何方？

短短几个月，他一连串的政策与言论，如同一阵阵强风，把原本就不太稳定的国际秩序，吹得更乱。对内，他高举「再一次让美国伟大」的旗帜，强调边境、移民、关税、治安，言辞越来越尖锐；对外，他在盟友与对手之间摆盪，一方面要别人多付军费，一方面又扬言重谈各种贸易与安全协议。世界领袖们表面上握手寒暄，心裡却都在重新算盘。

有人期待他能打破僵局，用「非常规手段」逼出新的平衡；也有人忧心，他的冲动与好恶，会把地缘冲突推向更难挽回的一步。从乌克兰战火、中东局势，到美中竞逐，每一个火药桶旁边，都多了一双不可忽视、却又难以预测的手。今天一句贴文、明天一纸行政命令，足以让全球股市震盪、匯率翻飞、油价飆涨，平凡小民的日常，往往就被这些远方的决定悄悄改写。

对我们这些在美国打拼的移民而言，川普不只是电视上的人物，而是实实在在影响签证、边境、贸易、社会气氛的掌权者。他的话语，可以助长偏见，也可以平息仇恨；可以鼓励团结，也可以撕裂族群。当年疫情期间反亚裔的阴影还未完全散去，我不禁问自己：在他的世界观裡，我们这些外来移民，是「让美国再伟大」的一部分，还是被牺牲的筹码？

然而，歷史从来不是某一个人的独角戏。即使是一位性格鲜明、作风强烈的领袖，能走多远，仍然要看制度能否制衡、媒体是否敢言、公民 society 是否清醒。川普也许可以左右一时的舆论、改变几年的路线，却无法单独决定人类文明的方向。真正决定世界走向的，往往是千千万万个看似微小的选择：科学家要做什麼研究、企业家怎麼投资、老师怎麼教导下一代、公民愿不愿意為公平与真相发声。

今晚写下这一句：「川普要把世界带到那裡？」其实更像是在问自己：**在这样一个充满不确定的时代，我愿意把自己带到哪裡？**是选择恐惧，还是选择理性？是被煽动牵着走，还是保有独立思考？世界的未来，也许有一部分握在那些看似遥不可及的权力者手中，但另外一部分，仍然握在我们每一个清醒而有记忆的人心。

Where Is Trump Leading the World?

Since the 2024 election put Donald Trump back in the White House as a rare “comeback” president with non-consecutive terms, the whole world has been asking the same question: this time, where does he intend to take America—and the rest of us—next? 

In just a few months, his return has felt like a series of strong gusts hitting an already unstable global order. At home, he once again wraps himself in the banner of “making America great,” sharpening his focus on the border, immigration, tariffs, crime, and cultural battles. Abroad, he pressures allies to pay more for defense, threatens to rewrite trade and security arrangements, and talks openly about sweeping crackdowns and new trade wars as part of his second-term agenda. 

Every one of the world’s flashpoints now has his shadow across it: the war in Ukraine, the fragile Middle East, the tense rivalry between the U.S. and China. A single late-night post, an off-the-cuff remark, or a sudden order from Washington can rattle stock markets, push currencies around, and send oil prices soaring. Headlines shift, but the result is the same: ordinary people, far from the halls of power, find their daily lives quietly rewritten by decisions they’ll never be invited to make. 

For immigrants like us, living and working in America, Trump is not just a distant figure on a television screen. He is a policymaker whose words affect visas, borders, trade, and the social climate on the streets we walk every day. His rhetoric can encourage prejudice—or help calm it. It can unite—or further divide—a country that already feels stretched thin. The memory of anti-Asian hostility during the pandemic still hasn’t fully faded. So I can’t help but wonder: in his vision of a “greater” America, are we immigrants part of that greatness… or a convenient bargaining chip to be spent and discarded?

And yet, history is never a one-man show. Even a powerful, polarizing leader doesn’t control the entire script. Institutions still have some capacity to restrain, courts can still review, journalists can still investigate, citizens can still organize, vote, and speak. Trump may shape the mood, set the agenda, and dominate the conversation, but he cannot, by himself, determine the ultimate direction of human civilization.

The world’s future is also shaped in quieter rooms and smaller lives: in the research projects of scientists, the choices of investors and entrepreneurs, the lessons teachers give to the next generation, and the courage—sometimes very fragile—of ordinary citizens speaking up for fairness and truth. These forces are slower and less visible, but they do add up.

So when I write tonight, “Where is Trump leading the world?” I realize I’m really asking another question:

In such an uncertain age, where am I choosing to go?

Will I let fear dictate my reactions, or will I hold onto reason? Will I be pushed around by anger and propaganda, or will I insist on keeping an independent mind? Part of the world’s direction may be steered from the Oval Office. But another, equally real part is decided in the hearts of millions of awake, remembering people—people who refuse to surrender their humanity, no matter who sits in power.