Trump just threw a public tantrum over the fact that the rest of the world can’t stand him

It comes as no surprise that President Donald Trump is one of the most despised American leaders in modern memory. With a few notable exceptions, Trump’s approval rating in other countries is abysmal, especially in those nations without large populations of white racists.

Gallup reports that after one year of Trump in office, the median global approval of the United States and its leadership has plummeted by 18% while median disapproval rose to 43%.

Our biggest losses were among our closest allies, while the few gains came from places with repressive and openly racist governments like Russia and Israel. 

And who can blame them? The President has treated our close allies and other friendly nations with appalling disrespect and undeserved animosity while embracing murderous dictators and cruel despots, throwing world markets into turmoil with his reckless and selfish trade wars while behaving like a cranky college student at international summits.

Of course, the President is entirely unwilling to not only accept the responsibility for his actions but also to face reality, which explains his self-aggrandizing and utterly pathetic tweets this afternoon in which he dismisses his low global approval rating as “fake news” and then immediately admitted that it was true, but only because he’s making them “pay a big price.”

It’s obvious that he does not actually like them, because he knows the vast majority of foreign leaders and the people they represent are disgusted by his racism, xenophobia, pathological lying, and insatiable narcissism — and the only leaders who do actually “like” him only do so because they know he’s an idiot pawn they can manipulate at will.

But Trump’s tweets are just another reminder that the President conceives of all his relationships with international leaders on a personal level, hungry for the approval and the affirmation of other leaders and he’s willing to do anything to get it.

As he ramps up his racist lies ahead of the midterm elections and begins threatening the countries of Latin America for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration, it’s more important than ever that we retake the houses of Congress and put a serious check on his power.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.