Remember how Donald Trump told everyone during the 2016 election that the whole world was laughing at the U.S. because of our leaders? Well, that is actually right on the nose for once, only the leader they're laughing at is President Trump.
What did we expect when a reality TV celebrity was elected to the highest and formally most respected office in the land? He's turned the U.S. into some kind of horrific sitcom/reality show where every day's a new episode worst than the last. And now, the rest of the world is like our studio audience.
In all the craziness that was last week, with all the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, it's almost easy to forget that Donald Trump is a real problem.
President Trump addressed the UN General Assembly on September 25th. Now, Trump, for some reason, has to boost his own ego by talking about himself in every single speech he makes. And his speech to the UN last Tuesday was no exception.
As you can clearly hear in this video, Donald Trump goes to one of his usual talking points at the beginning of his speech about how his administration has done so much more in two years than any other administration in history (I guess Lincoln freeing the slaves, Jefferson purchasing most of the western United States, Washington literally defining the role of the president, and FDR fixing the Great Depression and leading the US during WWII were nothing).
Usually, when Americans hear this, they have one of two reactions. Many, like me, roll their eyes at the president's blatant lies while those who support him, who have apparently been living under a rock since November 2016, cheer. The world leaders on Tuesday had a different reaction: they laughed.
Yes, the world literally laughed at Donald Trump.
The man who said that America would no longer be a laughing stock on the world stage literally made America a laughing stock on the world stage. If the world wasn't losing respect for the US before Trump's election, they are now.
I mean, how can they not? He backstabs our allies by backing out of deals, like he did with the Iran Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement. He imposes tariffs to start trade wars with our allies. He refuses to hold Russia accountable for their meddling in elections — including their meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. He likes getting cozy with brutal dictators like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un — even going as far to say recently that he and Kim Jong Un "fell in love" (Melania better watch out if she wants to keep her title as First Lady, apparently).
Trump may be fooling his base and have the rest of us Americans so jaded that we are frankly too exhausted with the constant scandals coming out of Washington to even care, but the rest of the world sees him for what he is: an orange clown full of nothing but hot air who doesn't know how to tell the truth.
The thought of it is absolutely terrifying. Trump is abandoning American values and our allies on the world stage and making it so the U.S. is no longer the most powerful, well-respected country. He's leaving an international power vacuum that the brutal dictators are eager to fill. Trump is being played like a fiddle by people like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un.
And the sad part is, America is letting him get away with it. Republicans, who currently control both chambers of Congress and could exercise their checks and balances on the executive branch, are letting him get away with it. The U.S. and our democracy are literally in danger because our president is an incompetent buffoon and nobody is holding him accountable.
The world may be laughing at Trump, but it's because they see him for what he is and find it funny that, for all the hot air he touts about “America first," he's the one that's making the United States vulnerable internationally. And we should be very afraid.
Which is why the midterms this year are so important. We need to elect Senators and Representatives who are going to hold Trump accountable. We need Congress to start exercising their checks and balances over the executive branch. So, get out and vote for officials who are going to do that.
