This is simply too comical. One thing Donald Trump loves to do is peacock about, convincing himself and anybody within earshot, that when he was in office, America was greatly revered, nay, feared even. The Mighty Trump had the world trembling in awe and deference.
A new Pew poll of 23 countries finds that people have almost twice the regard for the United States now that Joe Biden is in office than when Trump was, and almost four times the confidence in Biden as they had in Trump. The walls will run red with ketchup when this gets out.
Trump wasn’t just a joke though. His obvious instability and tenuous hold on reality were unnerving to the world. His America First slogan alienated allies. And his softness toward dictators and strongmen emboldened adversaries.
International opinion polls leave no doubt about how America’s reputation fared under Trump. In September, 2020 Pew found that
America’s reputation has declined further over the past year among many key allies and partners. In several countries, the share of the public with a favorable view of the U.S. is as low as it has been at any point since the [Pew Research] Center began polling on this topic nearly two decades ago.
Some of this was in response to the U.S. handling of COVID-19. Among thirteen European nations, only an average of 31 percent held a positive view of the United States, while only 16 percent expressed confidence in Trump. In fact, Trump was less trusted than the leaders of Germany, France, the U.K., China, or Russia.
President Biden has gone some way toward restoring America’s global image. Pew reports that a new survey of public opinion in 23 countries finds an average of 59 percent holding favorable views of the United States and 54 percent having confidence in President Biden.
Though views of the United States have improved during the Biden years, doubts must persist. Hell, they persist among Americans. Though other presidents have been unpopular (George W. Bush in particular), our foreign friends and foes never before had to wonder about America’s political stability. Confidence about that will take years to rebuild, or just another election to wreck utterly.
It’s been said that George W. Bush was the Mulligan. We were given a pass in the eyes of the world. Then came Trump and the world gaped and gawked. Now, if by any insane twist of fate, Trump gets back into power, it is banana republic time and we don’t mean the clothing outlet.
We have used up all our chances. Our best shot, on a planetary level, is to reelect Joe Biden and show the rest of the world that America is still America, despite how polarized the politics have become and how deep the cultural rift runs.
Once again, 2024 is the most important election of our lives. Hopefully it will be the very last one where the Trump presence unbalances and discombobulates politics. But maybe not. Maybe Trump will keep trying to grift in 2028 and be with us until death us do part. Perhaps that’s the way this will all go down.
If former guy was an actual peacock, the species would have been immediately put out of its misery and would now be extinct.
Imagine a peacock losing its feathers and trying to glue the feathers back on its body. :))
On its head.
He likes to think he’s all that and a bag of chips, but every time he opens his mouth he proves otherwise.
his entire body looks like a bag of dicks.
It is Republicans that the World is afraid of. They crave an un-democratic America and a dictatorship. Screw the Constitution. The Trump clown is nothing but a focal point. If the Fascists Republicans were burned down and covered in salt we would have respect from all parts of the world that weren’t already fascists.
That is the most important point. America is on the verge of having a fascist dictator, with the support of a large part of the population of the United States. Hitler was in prison when he wrote Mein Kampf. Being in prison did not tarnish his reputation. Like trumps reputation for being under indictment is not stopping his popularity with his base. Bibi in Israel is under indictment, his followers support him. WWII was really not that long ago. Fascist governments are returning all over the world. If the US falls, that is the end.
Your “… One thing Donald Trump loves to do is peacock about..” That’s because Donald De Cockwomble, is a political peacock. Not everyone is fooled by the feathers this particular narcissistic peacock fluffs about at his audiences to serve as a sign for what lies beneath. This peacock is void of any substance underneath – it’s merely a deceiving abstraction used to hide details on the gullible, who are pulled in, lied to, mislead and grifted. His lawless and hollow speeches of feathers are not based on compromise, nor are they fact based. His abstracted peacock presentation is always based on the act of deceiving.
The Pew Poll you refer to thankfully shows that others are not easily fooled by this narcissistic grifting peacock. They are able to see through his featherd sideshow and reveal the paucity of substance used to construct his greedy, deceitful and deceiving abstraction – all for a grifting crime family.
If the rest of the world can see this clearly, why can’t US citizens?
Because RWNJ media has an influence in the USA like nowhere else, and also unlike anywhere else, RWNJ billionaires have convinced the courts to declare that money = free speech.
Until those distorting influences on American society are fixed, the world knows that America can never really be trusted. The USA is always only one election away from perfidious republicans and their abhorrent morals.
Right-wing media has had a toxic effect on the cultural narrative. And so has social media. Facebook used to be a repository for the birther conspiracy and then you well remember how the Russians used the platform against Hillary in 2016 by posing as the neighbors.
A clash of opinions, or wills, is not a big deal. People believing two different sets of facts about the same event is a disaster. That’s where we are.
Longe before 2020 the world made its feelings about Trump clear. His first year in office when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly I’m sure most of the other world leaders and their delegations were concerned, but with less than a year in office and a handful of “grownups” having partially reigned him in (Tillerson, Mattis, McMaster) when it came to international affairs their concerns were perhaps mitigated enough to adopt a “We know he talks crazy but it’s been less than a year so the jury’s still out. We need more time to see what he actually DOES to know for sure one way or the other.” Well, a year later and with almost two years to look back on, the world had its answer. They weren’t at all impressed and thought he was a joke, with many finding him an increasingly dangerous one. Way worse than Bush 43, and they weren’t disposed to sit there and let him sling bullsh!t their way. Right out of the gate he tried spouting the same kinds of lies like he did at his rallies, albeit while trying to look and sound “Presidential” – I think he felt like he was there as the professor to give a lecture to the students.
And they let him know out of the gate they had his number and the room literally laughed in his face! At that point in time he at least had some control and didn’t tee off on everyone and tried laughing it off, which the other leaders appreciated. But they knew he got the message. He was startled by the realization they had his number. After almost two years he’d been measured and found wanting and they let him know it. I’ve sent that clip (or some other version of it, a bunch popped up on YouTube pretty quickly) to a lot of people since when they tried to sling their “Trump has made us respected around the world again” line of crap. They’d say it, I’d counter with no and why. They’d say he dominates other world leaders and I’d say no, other world leaders think he’s a joke. They’d say I don’t know what I’m talking about and I’d reply there’s proof. And when they’d say “Oh yeah? The PROVE it!” So I’d send them this:
Ursula there is no such thing as ‘two sets of facts’. There are facts period. The other crap is as Dylan described in Idiot Wind…’their minds are filled with big ideas, images, and distorted facts’…i.e. LIES.
It’s a wonder they still know how to breathe.😉😎
Don’t forget that Kellyanne has the trumpets firmly believing in ‘alternative facts’