People in Europe are somewhat rattled by the whole thing.

“Is Trump still sane?” asked the Friday lead headline on the site of Germany’s most respected conservative paper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The piece was published under the topic “mental health.”

Meanwhile, British readers woke up to the Times of London’s main front page headline that also wondered about the president’s stability: “Trump’s mental health questioned by top aide.”

“Donald Trump’s right-hand man openly questioned his fitness to serve and predicted that he would resign to avoid being removed by his own cabinet, according to a book that the US president tried to block yesterday,” wrote the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Times of London.

Well at least they found a dignified photo to go with the story.

Tomorrow's front page: Trump’s mental health questioned by top aide #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/mE0d6NkM0S

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) January 4, 2018

Some of the United States’ closest international allies, including Britain, Germany and France, are now openly debating whether the most powerful man in the world and de facto leader of NATO — an alliance on which their entire military strategies are based — can still be trusted.

Oh, I know the answer to that one. No, of course not.

“In many European capitals, the prevailing sentiment is helplessness and frustration that Trump won’t engage in a rational dialogue,” argued Stephan Bierling, a professor for transatlantic relations in Germany, who said that he had long admired the United States but that his beliefs were now “shaken to the core.”

He won’t, but he also can’t. If he suddenly decided he ought to and wanted to do that, he’d be at a loss as to how to go about it. Rational dialogue is way beyond his powers.