It’s one thing when American late-night TV show hosts and
online commenters make fun of President Donald Trump. It becomes something
completely different — and, frankly, alarming — when world leaders mock the
president.
On Thursday, a video leaked showing Australia’s Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull mimicking Trump’s unique speaking style and
exaggerated hand gestures, and stealing his lines: “The Donald and I, we are
winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much! We are winning like
we have never won before,” said Turnbull, to raucous laughter from the audience
at the Australian Parliament’s annual midwinter ball.
“Not the fake polls,” he continues. “They’re the ones we’re
not winning in.”
If you watch the video, it is undeniably funny. The prime
minister later tried to downplay it, claiming that he was actually making fun
of himself, not Trump. “It's a good-humored roast," said Turnbull,
according to the BBC. "My speech was affectionately light-hearted."
But even though Turnbull thought his comments were off the
record, he was still mocking the US president as a pompous clown in front of a
room full of journalists and fellow politicians. When viewed in a wider
context, that’s more than a bit unnerving. This is an ally of the United States
blatantly demonstrating that he doesn’t take the president seriously.
Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist and president
of the global risk-assessment firm Eurasia Group, argues that Turnbull’s
charade shows that world leaders think Trump is the “least capable person ever
to sit in the office” and are “appalled” that they have to work with him.
Here’s Bremer’s full quote, as told to the Washington Post
Thursday night:
In the private conversations I’ve had with heads of states
and ministers of foreign relations … they all feel what Turnbull just basically
came out and said: This is, by far, the least capable person ever to sit in the
office and it’s appalling they have to deal with him. … Even in a country that really
needs to have a good relationship with the United States, you’re just not
willing to deal with it. Your own ego will say, ‘Screw this guy.’
The Australians have made some blunt and damning comments
about Trump before. Back in February, Trump blasted Turnbull over a refugee
resettlement agreement during their first phone call, which ended 30 minutes
early when Trump hung up. Graham Richardson, a former senior Australian cabinet
minister, called the US president’s reaction a “normal Trump tantrum.”
French President Emmanuel Macron invited American climate
change researchers to move to France last week by launching a website called
“Make Our Planet Great Again,” an obvious play on Trump’s campaign slogan.
Last month, five Nordic prime ministers reenacted a photo of
Trump, the Egyptian president and the Saudi king placing their hands on a
glowing orb. Except the Nordic leaders used a soccer ball instead.
Mexico’s former President Vicente Fox mocked Trump’s love of
taco bowls (“they are not even Mexican”) and emphasized that Mexico will not
pay for a border wall in a profane YouTube video.
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin has trolled Trump. On
Thursday, he offered political asylum to fired FBI Director James Comey.
It seems like this is the new normal, and it’s frightening.
When world leaders would rather make jokes about Trump than work with him,
there are sure to be implications for American foreign policy.
Some of this stems from Trump’s own unpredictability when it
comes to foreign policy. Earlier in June, he finally committed the US to coming
to the defense of any NATO member nation attacked by Russia after publicly
criticizing the alliance for months. When Trump made the decision to withdraw
the US from the Paris climate accords, leaders around the world expressed
disappointment and frustration.
With the uncertainty of how Trump will respond in any
foreign policy situation, world leaders can do little more than make jokes and
wait for the next shoe to drop.
Courtesy: Vox.com
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