Behind His Back, the Whole World Thinks Trump Is a Joke

Claessens/Euc/Ropi via ZUMA

No, wait. And then he said he really likes french fries but not German chocolate cake. And he loves the Eiffel Tower but thinks it would look better in gold. No, seriously, that's what he said. And he thinks you should smile more. I swear.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Let’s count up our ruined relationships around the world:

  • We’re in a trade war with China and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says talks have “broken down.”
  • The North Korea summit was obviously a joke. Kim Jong Un blew off Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during last week’s follow-up, which participants said was a complete waste of time. North Korean negotiators failed to even show up for yesterday’s talks about POW remains.
  • NATO is in shambles after Trump spent his time in Brussels slamming everyone and everything in sight.
  • The EU writ large is none too happy about Trump’s love affair with the likes of Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen, nor with his notion that the whole point of the EU is to oppose the United States.
  • Our relationship with Britain is in the deep freeze after Trump kicked off his state visit with an incendiary interview in the Sun in which he blasted Theresa May and suggested Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister.
  • Ditto for Germany after Trump accused Angela Merkel of being in Vladimir Putin’s pocket.
  • Canada and Mexico are both infuriated too, partly over Trump’s insulting trade theatrics and partly over his wall.

So who do we still have good relations with? Israel, I suppose. Saudi Arabia. Russia, if we’re stretching the meaning of good. And I guess the new Five Star bros in Rome are sort of sympatico with Trump.

Anyone else?

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate