Donald Trump brings his wrecking ball to Europe – and leaves mess behind him

Journalism has long been described as “the first rough draft of history”.

Well, first drafts are being written as we speak.

Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump, he has been dominating the headlines in the US, Europe and the UK.

Like all raging narcissists, The Donald loves all the attention. He preens and struts on the world stage.

Not only that, the Leader of the Free World makes stuff up as he goes along.

While he has a pretty thin skin and reacts with petulance to any perceived slight, he would rather be savaged than ignored. (A bit like, ahem, newspaper columnists.)

On his trip to Europe, the US president brought a special gift with him – a wrecking ball.

Trump threw the explosive ball into the middle of the Nato summit in Brussels, thus putting at risk America’s relationship with its closest allies – endangering the future of a consortium that has helped keep the peace in Europe for more than half a century.

Nato, the G7 and the European Union are far from perfect – indeed, they require reformation – but you don’t have to be Einstein to understand that contemptuously insulting America’s long-standing allies and getting into trade wars isn’t a good way forward for the world.

The Trump wrecking ball was very much in evidence the day before he arrived in the UK.

In an interview with the Sun newspaper, the president sought to embarrass Prime Minister Theresa May by belittling her own contribution and suggesting a trade deal between Britain and the US looked unlikely.

He also talked up the prime minister’s main rival, the sleekit Boris Johnson, because the former foreign secretary “obviously likes me and says very good things about me”.

Oh well, that’s nice.

But events on Planet Trump move very quickly and erratically.

By the next day the president was lavishing praise upon a grateful Theresa May and saying a trade deal with Britain would be accomplished.

Here’s what he said about the prime minister: “I have gotten to know her better than ever. She is a terrific woman, she is doing a terrific job.

“The only thing I ask is that she work it out so we can have a fair deal on trade.”

But what about the interview in the Sun? Trump – surprise, surprise – called it “fake news”, even though the newspaper has a full recording of the interview.

This cuts right to the heart of the Trump presidency. White is black, black is white.

In the wonderful world of The Donald, the president gets to make up his own reality at any given time.

But “facts are chiels that winna ding,” as Scotland’s national bard put it.

At some point, even the most skilled self-referential fantasist must collide with reality.

There is a moral black hole at the centre of the White House. In this Orwellian world, the president himself will eventually be sucked into that dark whirlpool.

But how much damage will be caused in the meantime?

There are lots of good, caring and decent people around. There are politicians who don’t tell lies

The vainglorious fantasist-in-chief, having played playing footsie in Finland with the ruthless Vladimir Putin – at a time when Trump’s own justice department has issued a sweeping indictment of 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaign – is known to be a sucker for vanity.

As Trump said at a rally earlier this month: “You know what? Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people.”

Well, that’s very reassuring. Isn’t it?

We are truly living in strange times. With a climate-change denier in the White House, who knows what President Trump’s legacy will be?

Mind you, he may wake up tomorrow morning and say we must tackle the problems created by climate change as a matter of urgency.

In the meantime, thank God for a good World Cup and an England manager and team whose modesty and courtesy were refreshing.

And above all, thanks to those brave and skilled men who rescued the Thai lads from the caves.

Compassion without skill leads to sentimentality. Skill without compassion is dangerous.

But when compassion and skill combine, the results are wonderful.

There are lots of good, caring and decent people around. There are politicians who don’t tell lies.

The demonstrations on the streets of Britain, Finland and the US show how much disgust there is with the rhetoric of hate, division and prejudice that disfigure so much public discourse in our time.