OPINION:
President Donald Trump’s favor with other nations seems to have fallen in recent weeks, particularly when it’s matched against that of Barack Obama, a new poll finds.
And you know what America’s reaction should be to that survey? Big deal.
So what.
Who really cares what other nations — what other socialist, progressive, left-leaning nations — think of Trump and his ability to lead?
“Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings or the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations,” Pew Research Center’s new survey found. “The sharp decline in how much global publics trust the U.S. president on the world stage is especially pronounced among some of America’s closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighboring Mexico and Canada.”
Mexico’s mad because Trump’s cracking down on illegal immigration; Canada, in Justin Trudeau, has a flaming socialist in charge. It’s a good sign for America’s free-market system that Trudeau doesn’t feel confidence in Trump.
America would have to worry if Trudeau loved Trump — believed in the methods and means of Trump’s leadership.
But guess who did have confidence in the new White House?
Israel. Israel and Russia, actually.
Look at this, from The New York Times: “Just 22 percent of those interviewed outside the United States expressed confidence in Mr. Trump to do the right thing, compared with 64 percent who had similar confidence in the late stages of President Barack Obama’s administration. … In only two of 37 countries in the survey did Mr. Trump fare better than Mr. Obama: Russia and Israel.”
The left will moan and wail. But truly, this is nothing but good news for the United States. Trump’s call to White House arms was to put America first — to make America great again.
The losers in that equation are foreign nations — particularly foreign nations with governments that are antithetical to the American way of life and the democratic-republic system that places the individual, not the collective, first and foremost.
Of course, overseas’ leaders are wary of America now. Obama was pure progressive, near socialist, a friend of the diplomat, an enemy of the Constitution. Other nations with less free markets, more heavy-handed governments, loved him because they understood him, shared similar values with him, and could deal-make with him on a regular basis.
Enter Trump. Enter an American first mentality. Suddenly, these other nations are shivering in their boots, wondering what the heck America’s going to do next — to advance America’s priorities and not theirs.
It’s a chaotic time for these nations, a time of mourning for the age of Obama.
But for Americans?
As the survey shows — no worries. Trump’s doing just fine.
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