RT l Alexandre Antonov: The first year of Donald Trumps presidency has been chaotic, to put it mildly both domestically and for the world in general. And the world community should ask itself whether it was just a glitch in the system.
One can safely assume that the majority of world leaders dont consider Trump the best president the US has had. His domestic troubles aside, he has managed to imperil US credibility in many parts of the world.
Hescrappedthe Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, which he believed was not good enough for America, and threatened similar pacts withCanada, MexicoandSouth Korea. Hewithdrewfrom the Paris climate accord, putting the self-interest of US business ahead of the global climate change threat. He disrupted the Middle East byrecognizing Jerusalemas Israels capital andthreatening to scrapa hard-won nuclear deal with Iran. And he is currently pursuing a North Korea policy apparently aimed at eithera mass faminein the country or an all-out, possibly nuclearwar on the peninsula.
Those policies do not take into account Trumps personal diplomatic style. The style with which he went afterEuropean NATO allies, berating them for not paying for the protection provided to them by US military machine. The style by which Trump tried toweasel outof the Obama-era refugee deal with Australia during his early days in office. The style in which he dismissed some of the worlds poorest nations, allegedly inhighly offensive language.
We are unlikely to learn for sure what names Australias Malcolm Turnbull called the US president after that infamous conversation, or what was said by many other world leaders exposed to Trumps art of the deal. But they may be along the same lines as the expressions that some of his subordinatesallegedly used, as described in Michael Wolffs scandalous book.
My new cover for Epoca magazine in #Brazil. "Dirty Bombs", #Trump and the Demagogues' War Against the Press. How Trump's labeling of the press as "fake news" on Twitter is being coopted and weaponized by dictators worldwide to destroy the press in their own countries.
Its hardly surprising that Americas global approval ratings are at theirlowest levelin a decade, according to a Gallup poll, worse than in the final years of George W Bushs presidency. The greatest drops in approval came from traditional US allies, including Canada. And probably more significantly, the disapproval rating for American leadership in 2017 was 58 percent, up from 27 percent in 2016.
The worlds distrust puts in question whether Washingtons exceptionalism can be salvaged after the Trump presidency. Americaenjoyed free reinto topple foreign governments through subterfuge or outright military action, operate the dollar, decide on how global trade should work and much else besides on two presumptions. One that its leadership was ultimately making the world a better place, regardless of the damage done in the process. And two that it was an adequately competent leader.
Now the US has Donald Trump as its president, a person whose capacity to hold the office is vigorously questioned at home and whose actions abroad apparently made more than half of the world resent American leadership. The US establishment may tell itself that Trump got where he is throughRussias machinations, and silence thedissident voicesblaming an archaic and corrupt political system that protects an unjust and failing corporate economy. Americans loathing Trump may pray for the Robert Mueller investigation to come up with something actionable to impeach him or at least for his inner circle to find a way to insulate him from any real power.
This wont change the fact that many people in the world doubt that the US should be trusted with the power it claims as inalienable.