Pax Americana, or American dominance, has declined so swiftly under Joe Biden that the world’s superpower now pays its respects to tyrants and terrorists when they die.

Hence the humiliating sight this week at the UN Security Council of U.S. officials joining in a moment of silence for Iran’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan. Ronald Reagan would have been appalled. This was a new low, even for the Biden administration.

Raisi carried the well-earned title of “Butcher of Tehran,” and had been a key figure in the development of Iran’s nuclear programme, as well as Iran’s vast role in fueling terrorist activity across the Middle East, including arming and funding murderous groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. He was so close to Iran’s Supreme Leader that he was expected to ultimately be his successor.

You expect the French to perfect the art of appeasement, and the European Union to grovel to Tehran at every opportunity in the hope of restoring lucrative business ties and investment. But it is dispiriting to see U.S. officials kowtowing to a terrorist regime that has the blood of Americans on its hands. Even following Iran’s extensive backing for Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israelis, the weak-kneed Biden administration still hopes to revive the Iran nuclear deal and restart negotiations with Tehran.

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In his first term, Donald Trump approved the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force. Joe Biden, however, had his officials pay their respects to Soleimani’s former boss, Raisi, the political leader of the world’s biggest state sponsor of terror. The contrast could not be more striking.

No U.S. president has done more to undermine America’s standing in in the world than Joe Biden. If Trump becomes president of the United States for a second time, he must restore a sense of American dominance and exceptionalism on the world stage.

The United States needs to return to a position of being respected by its friends, and feared by its enemies. Biden has consistently undermined key U.S. allies, including its two most important partners on the world stage, the United Kingdom and Israel. In recent months, Biden has treated Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with outright contempt, and his administration has at times withheld vital military weapons for the Israelis in their fight against Hamas.

At the same time, Biden has run roughshod over the Special Relationship with London, abandoning a trade deal with the world’s sixth largest economy, throwing Afghanistan to the Taliban wolves, and issuing bellicose warnings over Northern, directly intervening to undermine Brexit.

Even two of America’s closest allies in the Indo-Pacific, Japan, and India, were recently accused of being “xenophobic” by the U.S. president while speaking at a fundraiser in Washington, in an astonishing rant that smacked of outright rudeness and amateurism.

At the same time, America’s enemies are growing emboldened. China increasingly threatens the sovereignty and security of Taiwan. Russia has launched a new offensive in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Iran’s proxies continue to threaten international shipping in the Red Sea without any real consequences for Tehran.

The enemies of the free world are acting as though it is open season for them to behave with impunity, while the U.S. colossus drowns amidst a sea of mounting debt, weak-kneed leadership from the White House, dangerous woke ideology imposed by the Biden administration, and a disastrous open-borders approach that has allowed over nine million illegal migrants to cross into the United States since Biden took office.

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It is little wonder that Biden has some of the lowest approval ratings of any American president in modern times, with less than a quarter of Americans believing the U.S. is heading in the “right direction.” The American people feel poorer, less safe, and less secure than they did four years ago, and are increasingly losing faith in the presidency and in Congress.

Biden’s evident mental decline is matched only by America’s plummeting standing on the international stage. Our allies no longer trust our commander in chief, while those who wish the nation harm are growing in belligerence and confidence. The era of Pax Americana is on life support, with clueless and destructive Joe Biden in the driving seat.

If Trump returns for a second term, he will need to bring back strength and resolve to the White House, and rebuild America’s position as the leader of the free world. The alternative is the rise of Chinese totalitarianism in Asia, a potential invasion of NATO territory by Russia, and a genocidal nuclear-armed Iran prepared to carry out its threats to wipe Israel off the map.

A world without America at the helm is unthinkable, but that is the reality we are facing today with feckless Joe Biden in charge.