Abdulai Mansaray: 10 September 2025:
“Cognitive Dissonance is the psychological discomfort a person feels when holding two or more conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or values, or when their beliefs conflict with their behaviours. It arises when a person has ideas, beliefs, values or attitudes that don’t align with each other or with their actions. It can lead to mental stress which motivates individuals to reduce the inconsistency. They often do so by changing one of the conflicting elements to justify their actions or downplay the importance of the contradiction in order to restore mental harmony.”
AI can be a wonderful thing sometimes. A typical example of such behaviour is like the habit of smoking. The smoker is aware of its harmful effects but believes that its less harmful or reduces their stress. Other say that it reduces their appetite and hence weight gain. Guilty as charged as an ex-smoker.
Let us agree that cognitive dissonance involves “the psychological discomfort a person a feels”, Trump does not feel any such psychological discomfort in this case. However, he displays beliefs, values and attitudes that do not align with each other.
Let us therefore look at Trump’s view of Human Rights, one among others, where Trump displays such contradictions in terms, and with no sign of psychological discomfort. Interestingly, the African continent is Trump’s lab rat to test out his policies and values of a certain persuasion.
According to the Sierraleonetelegraph.com (06/09/2025), America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Removal Operations said on its website that it had removed suspected war criminal and criminal alien Charles Emile Mbayo from the United States on August 20, 2025”.
The ICE report alludes to the extrajudicial killing of 29 victims, including former government officials accused of planning a coup against the regime on the Dec.29,1992. Reports state that C.E Mbayo was “highly regarded as among those bearing the greatest responsibility for the many atrocities committed by the military junta-National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) led by now President Brigadier Julius Maada Bio and others (sierraleonetelegraph.com -06/09/25).
Following Mbayo’s rejected application for permanent residence in the USA in July 2023, and his subsequent deportation, HSI Special Agent in Charge, Jared Murphy reportedly said, “we will continue to investigate these allegations with assistance of the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Centre to seek both accountability and justice in these cases”. He stated that “HSI is committed to ensuring that there is no safe haven in the United States for those tied to these horrific crimes”
While many would hail this action by Trump’s administration, it is the apparent secrecy that surrounded C.E. Mbayo’s reported removal and deportation to Sierra Leone that has left this newspaper (Sierra Leone Telegraph) and some others questioning whether his return poses risks to the people of Sierra Leone.
To all intents and purposes, many Human Rights lawyers, organisations and families of victims would welcome the gesture from the USA. Any efforts to uphold and defend human rights will always get the thumbs up from many sections of society.
Nevertheless, it is Trump’s double speak or cognitively dissonant relationship with the concept of Human Rights that has also come under the micro-scope. Trump seems to cherry pick the finer parts of the Declaration of Human rights Act when it suits him. The suitability is based on Trump’s transactional relations, which is determined by his own values if any, and America’s foreign interests.
While many would laud his latest breast-beating gesture as a High Priest of Human Rights, let us examine this against the recent directive from Trump’s State Department.
The United States uses Country Reports, the annual documents that are required by law in its judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government “as a resource for shaping policy and guiding decisions, informing diplomatic engagements, and determining allocation of foreign aid and security sector assistance” (the intercept-08/08/25).
According to information, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour (DRL), the Country Reports will no longer “call out governments for abuses like restrictions on free and fair elections, significant corruption, serious harassment of domestic or human rights organisations”.
So, on one hand, Trump’s administration is rounding up individuals for alleged war crimes (kudos) but on the other, directing his foreign embassies not to worry about the human rights issues in their respective host countries.
Is trump happy to give carte blanche to corrupt, repressive, despotic governments, as long as they serve a transactional purpose for American interests?
What we see here in his dealings is how Trump rejects those he thinks are “deplorables” or” undesirables”.
Trump has a blanket view of immigrants and has embarked on mass deportation of those with as little as misdemeanours or petty felony crimes. In the past, such crimes would require fines or short prison sentences. Nowadays, they result in deportations.
On the other hand, Trump is playing host to White South Africans with the false narrative of racial harassment or otherwise.
Trump’s first term ushered a protectionist approach to world affairs. He signalled his intent for America to relinquish its role as the world’s leader. He believed that by so doing, he can Make America Great Again (MAGA). During that term, he did not disguise his disdain and contempt for world organisations like UNESCO, UNHCR, WHO, etc.
Trump engaged in removing America from most facets of multi-lateral systems upon and around which the world used to rotate. That was during his first term when we started noticing the warning signs of the erosion of the Rules-Based Order.
His second term that is the death knell of Rules-Based Order under Project 2025. With the protection racket of his first term in full flow, there is every reason to believe that his second term is proof enough, that a return to the previous status quo is not only unlikely but beyond repair.
Under Project 2025, Trump rides roughshod over the constitution, the courts and promotes lawfare with reckless abandon. Immigrants, residents and citizens alike are detained or deported without due process.
The world is insidiously reverting to the law of the jungle where Might is mistaken for Right. We see the USA summarily assassinating alleged drug dealers in international waters instead of arresting or detaining them for trial. These days, even leaders and heads of states can be publicly threatened with arrests or death without due process of the law.
If the world is to continue as a civilised entity of communities, a new Rules-Based Global Order and a surgical reform of multilateralism is urgently required. While relinquishing its world leadership role and killing rules -based order, America has inadvertently created a vacuum that has seen China reluctantly venture to lead a select group of nations.
Is that what China was offering when President Xi hosted a contingent of prominent leaders from Russia, North Korea and India among others recently? Was the extravagant military parade a warning and message to USA, that China is about to be the new kid on the block?
With Trump selectively choosing what is Human Rights abuse or giving different plumages to corruption, you wonder where international morality will be by the end of his term.
The world is finally seeing the masks coming off what used to pass for democracy. The rest of the world has a job on its hands, to fill the vacuum created by America. If left unfilled will eventually lead to the law of the jungle where only the fittest will survive. Sadly, this would most likely trigger a fresh round of arms race.
The ensuing arms race will most definitely be fuelled by a paranoia of a persecutory nature, where every nation will suspect any nation of an attack. Treaties involving guarantees against nuclear proliferation will be confined to the trash cans of history. They would not even be worth the paper on which they would be written on.
In a world where everyone believes that Might is Right, the race to erase humanity will surely come to fruition. Don’t forget to turn the lights out when you leave the room.
Be the first to comment