They know an empty suit when they see one
In news that will surprise no one, Pew has found that Trump does not inspire confidence around the world.
Faith in American leadership has plunged in many nations around the world in the months since President Trump took office, according to a new survey, underscoring the challenges facing the new president as he prepares to make his second overseas trip next week.
Just 22 percent of those interviewed outside the United States expressed confidence in Mr. Trump to do the right thing, compared with 64 percent who had similar confidence in the late stages of President Barack Obama’s administration, according to the Pew Research Center. In only two of 37 countries in the survey did Mr. Trump fare better than Mr. Obama: Russia and Israel.
“Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations,” the center said in a report released on Monday. “The sharp decline in how much global publics trust the U.S. president on the world stage is especially pronounced among some of America’s closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighboring Mexico and Canada.”
The findings come despite concerted efforts by Mr. Trump to build relationships with world leaders. On Monday, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India at the White House and he is scheduled to host President Moon Jae-in of South Korea for a two-day visit starting on Thursday. As president, he has brought the leaders of China and Japan to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and telephoned other world leaders dozens of times.
Yes, he apparently loves to call them up and shmooze, just as he did with Comey. He apparently thinks this is effective and winning, on account of how he has such a lovable charismatic personality. Me? I think world leaders must dread hearing that Donnie is on the phone again.
He’s off to Poland and Germany next week. Vlad will be there, so maybe the BFFs will finally get the chance to huddle together and really cement their bromance. Trump will have no clue that Vlad is toying with him.
Mr. Trump’s first international trip, last month, won him praise from Arab and Israeli leaders in the Middle East but alienated America’s traditional allies in Europe over issues like trade, climate change and the role of NATO.
Not to mention his unbelievably bad manners, and his ignorance, and his stupidity.
Sixty-two percent of those surveyed by Pew disapproved of the travel restrictions and more than 70 percent opposed the United States’ withdrawing from major trade and climate change agreements. Ninety-four percent of those interviewed in Mexico opposed Mr. Trump’s proposal for a border wall.
But it is not just his specific policy agenda that creates antipathy in other countries. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed described Mr. Trump as arrogant, 65 percent called him intolerant and 62 percent said he was dangerous. Still, in a metric that may appeal to Mr. Trump, 55 percent characterized him as a strong leader.
Not necessarily a compliment of course. A strong leader can be an authoritarian leader. Trump is not really strong, but he by god is authoritarian.
The collapse in confidence in the president echoed that of the last phase of President George W. Bush’s tenure, when the Iraq war and the global financial crisis had sapped international faith in American leadership.
The falling support was most pronounced among longtime American friends. While 93 percent in Sweden had faith in Mr. Obama to do the right thing, only 10 percent had such confidence in Mr. Trump, a drop of 83 percentage points. The drop was also large in Germany and the Netherlands (75 percentage points), South Korea (71 points), France (70 points), Spain (68 points) and Britain (57 points).
In Mexico, only 5 percent expressed positive feelings about Mr. Trump, the least in any of the 37 countries. In Canada, confidence in the president fell from 83 percent to 22 percent, the lowest it has been in the 15 years that the survey has been conducted. In addition to the border wall, Mr. Trump’s threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement unless it is renegotiated to his liking has soured America’s closest neighbors.
Make America great again, eh?
An empty suit would be an improvement as it would be blessedly silent and inoffensive.
What is wrong with the rest of the world that a full 22% surveyed still have faith that Trump would do the right thing…about anything?
I suspect Trump and his supporters regard all of this as a good thing. The idea they’ve got is that the U.S. has been Europe’s sucker, so Trump at the helm alienating them and certain to do the “wrong” thing is deeply satisfying.
Put another way, their ambition is to make America a rogue state in every way possible and to the greatest extent possible.