America worries allies and adversaries
They see the Trump administration as becoming increasingly unhinged
Traveling overseas with one’s brain turned on is becoming increasingly difficult for an American as the administration of President Donald Trump proceeds.
The unfortunate parallel that comes to mind is that of Germans traveling outside of Germany in the 1930s.
The concern that prevails among foreigners and many Americans abroad is that the United States is falling apart and that the changes underway, or at least being reported, have potentially very adverse consequences for the rest of the world — America’s previous friends and allies as well as other countries.
Probably the most alarming piece of the picture at home is the hatred between Americans that Mr. Trump is seeking to foment to his own political advantage. He called the African-American athletes who are protesting killing of black men by police, in some cases unnecessarily, “sons of bitches.” In some societies, such a slur against a man’s mother is a reason to kill the person who said it. It was breathtakingly coarse on the part of the president, lowering the stature of the office as well as the character of public discourse.
It was also politically stupid, given the fact that 70 percent of National Football League athletes are African-American, the team owners are white and rich, and the fans are very attached to the players and not particularly fond of the owners.
There is another problem for Americans abroad. They tend not to be Trump fans and sometimes, when gathering with other traveling Americans, criticize the administration, loudly. This is embarrassing. It is all right to be critical at home, but airing America’s dirty linen abroad can be awkward. On our trip, to Norway, Denmark and Sweden, we’ve found Americans from unexpected parts of the country vociferating in public about Mr. Trump and his merry band.
I first traveled overseas during the years of President John F. Kennedy. People I met in Latin America and Africa oohed and aahed about the U.S. potential under its young, charismatic president. “Ask what you can do for your country,” the Peace Corps, and all of that, pre-Vietnam War, of course. I would respond proudly and not dampen their hopes — then try to reassure them and cross my fingers against the likely coming storm.
Now, things are a mess at home. When in the United States, one is distracted by the drumfire of nonsense from Washington, Mr. Trump’s daily idiot tweets, who was fired today and what truths are Special Counsel Robert Mueller accumulating? Who will actually go to the slammer? Overseas, one only sees the heavy stuff, and there is plenty of it.
Some foreigners actually care if Mr. Trump and the ostensible Republican congressional majority damage America at home. The Republican health care bill would have stripped medical insurance from millions of Americans. Grandma would die, while Republican congressional majorities in both houses fought each other bitterly over which donors’ cash counted for more. Putting Medicaid funds in the hands of states would have been terrifying for Pennsylvanians, whose Legislature can’t pass a budget.
The Republicans’ “tax reform” bill is simply an effort by the rich, already ruling the country to their own profit and not in the best interests of the people, to improve their situation, cut their taxes and increase the burden on the middle class and the poor. Foreigners care about America destroying itself, but, even more, about the threats to world peace that Mr. Trump throws around so casually.
The idea that he might start a war with global implications to make himself a “war president” and one more likely to be re-elected chills the blood of foreigners. The possibility looms with North Korea, Iran and even Russia.
The Trump North Korea nonsense has Secretary of State Rex Tillerson apparently trying to do the right thing by seeking to talk with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while Mr. Trump makes fun of Mr. Kim as “Little Rocket Man.” Mr. Tillerson might think of quitting, but I don’t want him to. He is marginally competent and, compared to Cabinet members such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, seems a Metternich at Mr. Trump’s side.
Israel, some wealthy exiled Iranians and some uninformed Americans want war with Iran, as opposed to improving relations based on the 2015 deal to remove sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran rolling back its nuclear weapons program. That agreement was reached not just between the United States and Iran, but also with U.N. Security Council members China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.
On the wilder shores of the Trump administration, some might even think that a mini-war with Russia might cause Mr. Mueller and the congressional committees investigating Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign to withdraw their fangs. All of these possibilities scare the life out of foreigners, including U.S. allies, who worry that America, as Germany did in the ’30s, will become increasingly unhinged.