Donald Trump has recently garnered huge backlash about his “sh*thole” comments regarding Haiti and Africa. Although he had denied it, members of his own party have shared that they heard the comments firsthand. Haiti’s ambassador to Washington, Paul Altidor, spoke out about how Haitians don’t deserve to be seen as immigrants set on running the U.S. out of their resources. Trump’s blow was also hardened by the fact that news came on the anniversary of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, which claimed over 200,000 lives.
It’s truly dumbfounding to see a U.S. president be so outspokenly hostile and condescending to other nations. The U.S. is widely regarded as the leader of the free world, but it’s not clear as to how long it can keep that title when its leader is so clearly ignorant of basic diplomacy etiquette.
It doesn’t even end at the embarrassment of developing countries. Trump’s refusal to join the Paris agreement, his lack of sociability with other G20 leaders and his disdain to enforce NATO’s Article 5 (ensuring mutual defense) are extremely damaging to the U.S.’s relations with foreign countries altogether.
It hasn’t been all that long since Trump took office, but he is well on track to somehow offend every country on earth.
After pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, he addressed the matter by saying that he “was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” That idea of “America First” is crucial to his brand as president, but I’m not sure he completely understands what that means.
This is why he thinks it’s okay to be so ignorant. He sees his disdain for other countries as an admirable “America First” mentality. He thinks that his inflammatory behavior will somehow set his presidency into the history books.
The new era of politics has thrust the U.S. into a distrustful outlook on the international community. Donald Trump is a representative for the United States population, but he clearly has no interest in at least trying to look good. And that reflects on the rest of us.
Trump has been trying to “Make America Great Again” by pretending that the U.S. is somehow not on the same planet as the rest of the world. And maybe this will go into history books, but I doubt it will ever be in a good light.
Featured Image: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
