About those transcripts ...

Transcripts of President Trump’s late January phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia show that his bombast, insults and falsehoods cross borders and oceans.

It would be one thing if Trump’s petulant comments were to a foreign adversary such as, for example, Russian President Vladimir Putin. But these exchanges were with the president of this nation’s southern neighbor, Mexico, and the prime minister of one of its most enduring allies, Australia.

Moreover, the testiest moments might be more acceptable if they were cast in greater regard for our national interest and human rights, and lesser in exhibitions of his self-absorption and insecurity.

Among the unsettling comments in the White House transcripts, obtained by the Washington Post, was his callous disregard for a deal that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, struck with Australia for the U.S. to accept refugees.

“This is ridiculous . ... This is going to kill me,” Trump told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country.”

Trump later said, “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now.”

Turnbull countered that the detainees were economic refugees who had not been accused of a crime. He also reminded Trump that a deal is a deal, even if it is not one that he would have made.

Trump was no less boorish in his call with Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto. The U.S. president did not miss a chance to remind Peña Nieto of the size of Trump rallies (“no one got the people in their rallies as big as I did”). He also claimed that he won New Hampshire because the state had become a “drug-infested den” (in truth, Hillary Clinton narrowly carried the state in the general election).

On his proposal to build a border wall, Trump said, “I have to have Mexico pay for the wall — I have to . ... I have been talking about it for a two-year period.” Trump offered the Mexican president a talking point, suggesting that both say a facesaving “we will work it out.” Peña Nieto repeatedly made plain that Mexico would not.

Trump supporters who lustily chanted “build the wall” at those big rallies might be disillusioned at his flimsy commitment. All Americans have cause to be concerned that the coolheaded leader at the end of each line was not their president.