Trump Has Become An ‘International Laughingstock’ As He Starts His ‘Big Foreign Trip’ [Report]

Trump has become an object of ridicule, derision, and mockery among U.S. allies in Europe after they witnessed the incompetence and ineptitude of his administration during its first months, according to a report by Politico.

Susan Glasser, Politico’s correspondent in Germany, writes that after seeing the “clownish nature” of his administration, nobody is taking Trump’s “ill-timed” world tour seriously anymore.

“Trump is becoming an international laughingstock,” an expert in German-American relations said, according to Glasser.

“The dominant reaction to Trump right now is mockery,” wrote Glasser, quoting Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of the conservative journal the National Interest.

After Trump assumed office as president, U.S. European allies lived in fear that his unconventional views about NATO could translate into actions that drastically change Europe’s’ established geopolitical order. But European officials are now less worried after witnessing the “clownish nature” of his administration in its first months.

“People are less worried [about Trump] than they were six weeks ago, less afraid. Now they see the clownish nature.”

“Chaos.”
“Circus.”
“Laughingstock.”
European officials sound off on Trump's ill-timed first foreign triphttps://t.co/3GAJ5a33zK pic.twitter.com/uVFs4duKHR

— POLITICO (@politico) May 20, 2017

Glasser reported that a German citizen she interviewed confided that Trump is seen widely in Germany as a “laughingstock.”

“People here think Trump is a laughingstock.”

The disparaging view of Trump was echoed by several other people Glasser spoke with in Germany.

Michael Werz, a German expert with the Center for American Progress, agreed that Trump has become a subject of ridicule and mockery among America’s European allies.

“The Trump administration is becoming an international laughingstock.” Werz said, according to Politico.

“Chaos. Circus. Laughingstock… just a few of the comments I heard in Berlin from senior European officials trying to make sense of the meltdown in Washington.”

‘Now they see the clownish nature’: Europeans brace for visit from ‘laughingstock’ Trump https://t.co/ynOZG4KWBK pic.twitter.com/UzpdLWkysA

— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 20, 2017

Werz said that the decline in Trump’s reputation and the erosion of the standing of his administration in the eyes of the rest of the world have been rapid in recent weeks due to self-inflicted problems that increased pressure on his administration. The pressure led eventually to the appointment of a special counsel, Robert Mueller, to investigate allegations of collusion between Trump campaign aides and Russian operatives who reportedly interfered in the 2016 general election.

Werz was reportedly struck about “how rapidly the American brand is depreciating over the last 20 weeks.”

Diplomats in U.S.-friendly countries that Trump will be visiting during his “big foreign trip” have reportedly been consulting and exchanging tips about how to handle the notoriously volatile U.S. president famed for his short attention span and thin skin, according to Politico.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made no effort to be diplomatic when he voiced the opinion held by many senior European officials about Trump’s attention span.

“The president of the United States has a 12-second attention span,” he reportedly told another senior official after he met with Trump in the Oval Office last month.

Stoltenberg observed further that Trump appeared grossly unprepared and ill-informed to address the issues that were the main subject of the meeting. Instead, he tried repeatedly to steer the conversion to North Korea, a topic which Stoltenberg said was not part of NATO’s charter and, therefore, not part of the agenda for the meeting.

“Some of the reported preparations for the NATO session in Brussels this week suggest just how much the volatile-clown theory of the American president has now taken hold,” Glasser wrote.

Glasser listed the significant changes that have been made to the NATO session in Brussels during Trump’s visit that reflect the currency of the so-called “volatile-clown theory” of Trump.

Most of the changes are an attempt to accommodate Trump’s legendary “short attention span” and to humor him with inconsequential concessions so that he can return to the U.S. with the false impression of having achieved something significant during his tour.

@politico : ‘People in Europe think Trump is a Laughingstock’

Let me add: but they stand w/ #TheResistance fighting 2 protect the US???? pic.twitter.com/6fvFVfzJzX

— Vera Higgs, Citizen not Subject ????????? (@VeraHiggs) May 20, 2017

Officials and national leaders have reportedly been advised to offer Trump and his aides concessions that look superficially like a “deal” so as to give the Art of the Deal author, who has often lavished praises on his own deal-making skills, the empty satisfaction of having achieved something significant.

A major inconsequential concession already lined up for Trump, according to Glasser, is an agreement that NATO should join the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. This is only an attempt to humor Trump over his stated goal of rescuing NATO from obsoletion by making the organization more involved in fighting jihadist terrorism.

“It’s a phony deliverable to give to Trump, a Twitter deliverable,” an official admitted, pointing out that the concession changed nothing since individual NATO members were already active in the coalition against ISIS.

NATO, according to Glasser, has truncated the NATO session during Trump’s visit to only a dinner on May 25 “to minimize the chance of a Trump eruption.”

Senior officials and national leaders have been advised to cut short traditionally lengthy remarks to less than four minutes to accommodate Trump’s “short attention span.”

What is probably most indicative of the projections about the Trump administration among officials and the media in European countries that are allies of the U.S. is the almost obsessed interest in the question of how long before Trump is kicked out of office.

Glasser noted that during a recent meeting with German and European political and media figures, the former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile found that she was besieged with questions about the prospects of a Trump impeachment.

Brazile reportedly responded to the questions diplomatically, saying that she wanted Trump to succeed. However, she affirmed that he would be impeached if found to have done wrong because no American is above the law.

“I want my president to succeed, but no one is above the law,” Brazile reportedly said.

[Featured Image by Greg Allen/Getty Images]