America is the sole superpower again. Here's how Trump surprised the world

Opinion

America is the sole superpower again. Here's how Trump surprised the world

Being the dominant power on the planet is a great way to start America’s next 250 years

Arthur Herman Fox News

Published

February 5, 2026 5:00am EST

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There’s one superpower that dominates the planet again, and it’s the United States.

In just one year in office, President Donald Trump has catapulted the U.S. from a country that seemed on the brink of inevitable decline, into the American colossus that’s put the other great powers — especially China and Russia — in the shade, and now determines the tempo and direction of world events.

What happened in Davos should set aside any doubts. In 24 hours, President Trump turned world-wide panic about possible U.S. military intervention in Greenland, into world-wide relief with a framework for peacefully securing the giant island for generations to come.

We were the world’s "sole superpower" twice in the 20th century, right after World War II and again after the Cold War. Now, thanks to Donald Trump and his administration, it’s happening again in the 21st century. It’s important to understand why and how, and what it means for the future.

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There are three components that make a dominant world power: military strength, economic strength and bold leadership.

Military power: By taking out the Iranian nuclear program; and by snatching the Venezuelan dictator in the middle of the night — both without losing a single American — Donald Trump demonstrated that we have a military with an unparalleled global reach and effectiveness. Meanwhile, Russia is bogged down in a World War One-style stalemate in Ukraine, while the last time China’s army fought a real war was in 1979 against Vietnam — a war China lost.

Economic strength: This year will mark the start of an economic boom triggered by the Trump tax cuts and deregulation, that may see the US economy grow by 5 percent or more (China will be lucky to hit above 4.5%). Trillions of direct foreign investment dollars and a revived American industrial landscape means we will have an economy geared toward making things again, not just spending money. At the same time, Trump’s use of tariffs has redirected the flow of world trade to America’s advantage and China’s disadvantage, as we leverage our power as the world’s biggest and best customer to get other nations to play fair in the trade game.

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Bold leadership: Just a year ago, America was still feeling the disastrous effects of an enfeebled president who surrendered world leadership to China, Russia and Iran. Biden and his team had all but crippled the American economy with rampant inflation and declining productivity, while their obsession with "climate change" came at the expense of one of the country’s most important economic assets, our oil and natural gas industry.

Along comes Donald Trump, and suddenly what seemed like problematic areas of the U.S. economy — AI, cryptocurrency, oil and natural gas production, manufacturing — leap into the forefront of administration policy for making America great again. Instead of weakness and impotence on the world stage, the United States has retaken the lead, from ending the fighting in Gaza and reshaping the future of the Middle East, to starting to push interlopers like China, Russia and Iran out of the Western Hemisphere — whether it’s Venezuela or Greenland or the Panama Canal.

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Most importantly, for the first time in a very long time — perhaps not since Ronald Reagan was president, — we have a president who is unapologetic about flexing American power and influence around the globe, and who sees world leadership not as a temporary transition phase, but as America’s birth right on its 250th anniversary.

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Leadership doesn’t mean being globocop. It does mean acknowledging moments like the one last week, when Venezuela’s Maria Machado handed over her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump, in gratitude for supporting the democratic resistance in her country.

It was a moment that tells us that, under President Trump, America has re-assumed the moral leadership, as well as military, economic and technological leadership, of the planet.

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These "sole superpower" moments can speed by. The first after World War II ended faded with the rise of the Soviet Union, and died in the jungles of Vietnam. The second, after the Cold War, was dissipated in military spending cuts and an orgy of "peace dividend" spending, which facilitated the advance of Communist China. Russia and especially China remain formidable adversaries — and nuclear-armed ones. Trump and his administration need to take full advantage of America’s current sole superpower status before some unforeseen event, or failure of judgement or failure of nerve, triggers its demise.

In the meantime, enjoy being the dominant power on the planet. It’s a great way to start America’s next 250 years.

ARTHUR HERMAN (@ArthurLHerman) is the author of Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II. His newest book, Founder’s Fire: From 1776 to the Age of Trump, will be published in April and is available on pre-order at Amazon.com.

America is the sole superpower again. Here's how Trump surprised the world