America’s allies don’t like Trump. So what?

The Spectator ^ | 17 Sep 2020 | Roger Kimball

[Rummyfan]

So, the Pew Research Center polled more than a dozen allies and, guess what, the allies — from the UK and France to Germany, Japan and Australia — don’t like Donald Trump.

I know, you are as astonished as I am. The Pew Research Center is reporting that people abroad — and not only people abroad, Americans, too: really everybody — dislikes Donald Trump. ‘The United States’ image has soured within the international community, hitting all-time lows among key allies,’ Business Insider reports in its précis of Pew’s findings.

Other key points: ‘The results showed that people have less confidence in Trump as a leader than Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping’ — sounds bad, what? — and a majority say that Trump ‘mishandled’ the US response to the Chinese virus. (Actually, Business Insider says ‘coronavirus’, but we all know that, like so many things these days, it was ‘made in China’.)

Then there follows a flurry of numbers followed by the word ‘percent’ or the percent symbol (and here I was told that there would be no math): ‘In Canada, one in five people expressed confidence in Trump, a drastic drop from 51 percent who held that view a year ago.’ Not Canada! ‘Germans gave the US some of “its worst ratings”,’ the authors note, with ‘only 10% who said they have confidence in Trump, compared with 13% in 2019 and 86% in 2016 while Barack Obama was president.’

How should we think of this steaming pile of partisan obloquy?

Badly. We should think badly of it. Why? Because it is all emotion and no evidence.

[Rummyfan]

Item: 86 percent of Germans ‘had confidence’ in Barack Obama. Any sane person, I submit, should close any report that contains that statement and back slowly away. Barack Obama was a disaster as a president. Not a passive disaster like a bombed out building but an active one, like an irradiated garbage dump or an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

Obama was bad in his policies and bad in the example he set. Bent on fundamentally transforming the United States of America, he made us poorer, less free and less secure. He weakened our military, opened our borders, and injected the toxin of identity politics into tissues of American life. He will never be held to account for it, but he was also the spider at the center of the effort, first, to deny Donald Trump the presidency and then, when that failed, to delegitimate and ultimately destroy his administration by weaponizing the police power of the state against him.

Maybe Obama should go be chancellor of Germany? He could hardly do worse than Merkel.

[Sacajaweau]

Merkel wasn't too happy when Obama tapped her personal phone.

Obama was not loved....well maybe by the Palestinians.

[frogjerk]

When you are kicking their collective butts, what competitor is going to like you?

[caww]

Why should it matter if other nation leaders, who were tied to Obama’s apron, like Trump or not? He’s President of THIS country. However, we know they ‘admire’ him, like him or not!

[rfp1234]

Not surprising. It just means that most foreigners are as badly misinformed by their mass media as our own low-information voters.

They have been conditioned to value shallow traits in world leaders, such as “personality”, over practical considerations (economic security, national security, individual rights, freedom, etc.)

No wonder Gorbachev (not Reagan) got the Nobel prize.

[caww]

One of my favorite photos of Merkle trying to throw her weight around to those who were waiting for her to just let it go...LLOLOL

[SmokingJoe]

The Europeans hated Reagan too. Same with Bush.
Anyone remember the massive demonstrations in Europe against Reagan when the neutron bomb was getting deployed in Europe?
The only American leaders the Europeans like are the America hating presidents like Obama.
They were also rather fond of the corrupt sleazy Bill Clinton.
Trump is forcing Germany to pay their fair share of NATOs expenses so of course they don't like Trump, which is okay. You don't want to be ripped off and then liked for being a sap.

[caww]

Trumps first G-7 meeting...letting 'us' know..."Who's the Boss!" LOLOL

He tweeted a gazillion photos during that meeting.

[blueunicorn6]

It’s a competitive world.

Other countries compete with us to sell their products and make their people rich.

[saintgermaine]

Not just good, but GREAT analysis, worth saving.

[Billthedrill]

How should we think of this steaming pile of partisan obloquy? Badly. We should think badly of it.

We should ignore it. The last guy that had Germany's unrestrained approval had a funny mustache.

[Secret Agent Man]

I dont like many of their leaders

So what

[chief lee runamok]

Most whining can be attributed to countries receiving less US taxpayers free money.

[FLT-bird]

Germany? France? “Allies”??? ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

Gosh....foreigners don’t like an American president who sticks up for America. They prefer a president who hates America, kisses their asses and gives away America’s money for nothing. I am shocked, just SHOCKED to hear this!

Newsflash! The American president’s job is to do the best he can for America - not “the world” or any other hopelessly naive BS notions.

[Gator113]

If the entire world hated President Trump, I would still love the guy.

[scrabblehack]

If not for the Soviet Union, the UK, France, and Germany would have been America’s competitors (not their allies) after WWII.

[Magnatron]

We were never truly “allies”. We were partners of convenience — to them.

We were there when they needed help. We were there when they needed saving. We were there when they needed money.

They were never there for us.

[Pining_4_TX]

The US doesn’t have any allies; only countries eager to get our money, our weapons, and to use our troops to fight their enemies. That goes for every country. They are the best allies money can buy.

Every country should be concerned with its own interests. Unfortunately, the US has a history of being used.

[packrat35]

Let’s face it, the US has been used by our “allies”, as much as a hooker on a Sat night when the fleet gets back in town after a ten month deployment!

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Nobody likes the guy who holds up the gravy train.