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Joe Biden
Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
SPIEGEL:
Professor Garton Ash, we are used to seeing the US president as the "most powerful man in the world".
Is he still?
Timothy Garton Ash
:
Yes, but now only a little further away from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The US is still a superpower, but so is China.
The United States was once a hyperpower, number one in the world.
It's over.
SPIEGEL:
What are the reasons for that?
Garton Ash:
It's not just because of the "hard power", that is, because China has caught up enormously economically and militarily.
Above all, the "soft power" of the United States has suffered badly.
Its appeal, its international reputation is badly damaged and will not recover anytime soon.
"The United States' 'soft power' has suffered badly."
SPIEGEL:
Is this Donald Trump's legacy?
Garton Ash:
It's not just him.
The US infrastructure is very dilapidated, the country has too high a national debt, and now the corona crisis has shown the whole world how bad the health system is.
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