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FRA billboard in Belgrade says: "Congratulations! Trump, Serb!" (OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images)
Across much of the Euro-Atlantic, Donald Trump is an object of derision. The list of his foreign-policy sins is long: He’s callous towards his Nato allies and disdainful towards multilateral institutions and treaties. He introduced a “Muslim ban” and has derided the states of the so-called Global South as “shithole countries”. Breaking with bipartisan orthodoxy, he doesn’t get misty-eyed when talking about the “rules-based order”. When Biden was sworn in as president, we were told that the world breathed a collective sigh of relief: America was back, and everyone was glad.
To back up this claim, liberals cite polls which invariably give countries under the US security umbrella disproportionate representation, and which seem to confirm that the rest of the world shares their view. But as anyone who has lived or travelled extensively outside of the West in recent years will tell you, the reality on the ground is much more complex. Trump’s base extends far beyond the United States.
Trump’s allies abroad take many forms, with motivations ranging from an ideological affinity for Right-wing anti-communism to a preference for a limited “America First” policy over the Democrats’ liberal internationalism. When liberals encounter these positions, they tend to label Trump’s foreign admirers as authoritarian. There may be some truth to this: Trump’s populist tough-guy persona is something that people in many parts of the world like, perhaps because it’s familiar. But such linear explanations are also self-serving, and neither entirely accurate nor honest.
The reality is that Trump’s overseas approval can be found in unlikely places. For instance, according to polls from the 2020 election, the country where Trump was most perceived to care about “ordinary people” was Nigeria. In that year, to the incredulity of American reporters, hundreds of Nigerians held a rally for the former president, clad in t-shirts showing his face and waving placards calling for his re-election. At the time, one 23-year-old artist told Reuters that Nigerians appreciated Trump’s “radical” approach to politics. Some liked him so much, in fact, that they weren’t that concerned with the Muslim ban. “If we have a person like Trump… Nigeria will be a better place to stay,” another supporter said. “There will be no need to go outside the country.”
Some attribute Trump’s popularity in Africa to the continent’s Christian minority, and the perception that Trump is the defender of Christians and their interests. He is, for example, a perennial favourite of African preachers and prophets — and none more so than Uebert Angel, a Pentecostal minister from Zimbabwe and an ambassador for the African Union’s Pan-African Parliament. In a recent broadcast, Angel — who has three million Instagram followers and over half a million YouTube subscribers —explored Trump’s “spiritual alignment”. “Donald means the ruler,” Angel explained. And “John, for J, means ‘the voice’”. Angel believes that prayers transmitted by his enormous following saved Trump from that fateful bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Nigerian televangelist Christian Oyakhilome, known as “Pastor Chris”, has also openly backed Trump. As the founder of the megachurch Christ Embassy, which has spread internationally, he alleges that Trump has been targeted for advocating for his flock. “They are angry at Trump for supporting Christians,” Oyakhilome has said. “So the real ones they hate are you who are Christians.”
Elsewhere, some in Africa explicitly support Trump’s dismissive approach to the continent, including his insistence on cutting aid. “For some strange reason, while I despise his divisive rhetoric and certainly don’t think he’s the best choice for President of the United States, I agree with Mr Trump’s position on Africa,” business strategy specialist John-Paul Iwuoha wrote in 2016. “Africa needs to wean itself off the tranquilising milk of foreign aid… and thanks to Mr Trump’s nationalistic ideals, Africa now has a rare opportunity to stand on its own and create a bright and prosperous future for itself.”
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SubscribeNewsflash…Some people love Trump. Some don’t. Shocking development. I don’t get the obsessive focus on Trump. I’m not suggesting the author has TDS, but the constant hand wringing by the credentialed class does more to elevate Trump than the man himself.
To many it is quite surprising that Trump is preferred, even liked, in places like Vietnam, Serbia, and China. I believe they see him as much less of a virtue-signalling hypocrite, i.e. he is a more direct speaker. People, even competitors, appreciate that.
He deserves the focus as he will be President again in January.
My own China contacts have suggested that pressure from Trump could encourage some liberalisation in China. That may or may not be true, but I do not doubt that some folks would be happy to see pressure (internal or external) induce some change
people who buy tee shirts in China are the ones seeking freedom. and that is why they like Trump. also my friends ( and i have quite a few) in Europe LOVE Trump and are rooting for him to beat Kamala. they also see the pall of communism/socialism covering Europe like the gathering storm the UK especially..but in truth all over
Why aren’t there articles like this about Kamala, who has yet to make her positions on anything public? It seems as though the press actually likes Trump and are embarrassed about it, so they write article after article merely to assuage their guilt of that unsaid fact. I’m unsure who they are trying to convince about what anymore. What I do know is that what we know about Trump could fit a set of encyclopedias, while what we know about Kamala sits in a children’s book. Super aggravating.
The press has been too busy trying to reinvent Kamala as something other than a policy lightweight who makes up for that by lacking managerial skills. They know she presided over the disaster of the border. They have seen her talk and heard the meandering stream of semi-consciousness that flows. They may not like Trump but they need him, in a visceral way, as if his presence gives them relevance. But they will cover for and lie for Harris if necessary.
What I find interesting is that Harris is the first vice president that people are demanding what she has accomplished. Truman, LBJ, Nixon, George H.W. Bush , Gore, Pence. No one asked them about what they accomplished as vice presidents, because, as LBJ said, it’s just boring. They wait for some leader to die and attend the funeral. Is it because she is a woman?
It’s horrifying how bad Democrat voters are at comprehending and putting forth arguments.
Because Kamala is the clear product of a secretive process that ousted a President by means of a party junta.
Truman, LBJ, Nixon, George H.W. Bush , Gore, Pence. No one asked them about what they accomplished as vice presidents,
That isn’t even slightly true. Still, what’s so great about history that you shouldn’t rewrite it, eh?
“Is it because she is a woman?”
Yeah, that’ll be it.
Kamala is the first VP who slept with someone to rise to power, got elected VP despite an embarrassment in the primaries, has made as much of an almighty mess of her job as VP, has been as gaffe prone or inclined to rely on her “colour”, and lied about the deteriorating mental acuity of the president.
Is it because she is a woman?
Oh I guarantee many male politicians have done much worse than sleep their way to the top. Let’s just move past that sad argument, please. There are PLENTY more actual policy-related decisions that we can bash Kamala on. Sleeping with people to move up in politics doesn’t even register.
Not sure there’s _enough_ scrutiny on K. Harris, actually. Almost no one is talking about her approval of many of the BLM and Antifa riots, which recently saw large parts of the US descend into mob violence and led to the killing of many innocent people. E.g. the 2020 riots which broke out in Kinosha, Winconsin, after Jacob Blake was shot (non-lethally) by police for fighting with cops in a residential area. He had been tasered but still reached into his car where there was a knife. A warrant had been issued for his arrest for a felony sex crime and other charges related to domestic abuse after he raped a woman with his hand in front of her child. Other charges on Blake’s criminal record include: assaulting police, resisting arrest, carrying a firearm while intoxicated and use of a dangerous weapon. Yet Blake, not the police in question who managed eventually to detain this criminal, was the one who got a presidential-like visit from Kamala Harris who said she was ‘proud of him’. Is it because he is black?
Kamala is recounted in a children’s book. Good one! (But Trump? In a mug book?)
Kamala’s backstory – the child of far left university professors (in a wealthy neighborhood in Montreal) who as a young adult slept her way into city and then statewide politics – is fairly well known.
Most American voters, if they follow politics, were introduced to her when Senate Democrats turned Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation into a circus of harpies and harridans, trying desperately to slander him as both a Roman Catholic, antiabortion zealot, and as teenager sex offender in his youth, which was about 40 years ago.
Harris then tried hard to imply that he was also interfering with the “Russian Collusion” investigation of then-President Trump.
Kavanaugh was, unsurprisingly, innocently befuddled by her questions, so they didn’t land as punches. But Harris’ aggressive demeanor won her some fans from the Democrats’ angry cat lady contingent.
Surely her position on everything is “I’m not Trump”?
Good article. When Western Progressives refer to the “world” they are merely referring to their sphere of influence sufficiently colonized by Performative Multiculturalism. They talk endlessly about the plight of the Indigenous peoples of the “Global South.” But all they really know about them is a sanitized Hollywood repurposing through the Oppressor/Oppressed Lens.
Indeed, when Progressives say that they wish the U.S. were “more like the world”, they specifically mean “more like France”.
Rejoyce: the US are definitely on the way to becoming France!
minus laicization . . .
Perhaps some day we can aspire to resembling Spain.
In the meantime, we are a nation falling prey to the enervation and effeminacy prosperity brings.
Exhibit A being our elites, Exhibit B being the children of our elites.
“Resembling Spain”? In what sense?
I’m not sure what Hollywood knows about the “Global South”. It wasn’t that long ago that it had John Wayne play Genghis Khan.
That was 68 years ago, i.e. before most people currently alive had been born.
Yeah, but it kind of sums Hollywood up. Hollywood made a big move in another John Wayne film (the Searchers) to actually hire Native Americans to play Native Americans (except for the Chief of the Native Americans though – they still got a white guy to play him).
People often confused Trump the man with Trump the social phenomenon. Trump the man is really nothing special if you look at him despite what he purports to be, and very inadequate both as a person and as a leader. But when it comes to Trump the social phenomenon, Trump appears far bigger than he actually is, people project their values and aspirations onto him despite being little if anything they say or think he is. It’s all do In part do to media sensationalism as well as his mastery of PR which makes him appear bigger than he actually is, as well as the desperate in polarized time we live in. Trump It’s not good or evil, He’s definitely not an evil man but could hardly be called a good man either. Trump’s is a banal and mediocre person who often falls short of his own goals and aspirations often as a of avoidable errors of which he refuses to learn from out of selfishness, pride and impulsivity. Trump not only frequently disappoints his followers, but also his enemies by being not being who they think he is or want him to be, They do the exact same thing his followers tend to do towards him, projector aspirations onto him. He is hardly a Messiah, but he’s certainly not the destroyer.
Good comment. I thought this was insightful and perceptive; “…people project their values and aspirations onto him despite being little if anything they say or think he is.”
I think this concept works in reverse as well. People, mostly the credentialed class, project their fears, stereotypes and ignorance of the working class onto Trump as well – blowing him up as some mythological boogeyman who will do all sorts of magical things.
Do you think there is more projection than for that guy who promised “hope and change”? Trump provides direction of his policies without getting into the details.
Trump’s great strength is not his personality, which is not even an advantage, but the absolute clarity of his politics. If you hate open borders, high energy prices, identity politics and the chemical castration of children, then you know absolutely who to vote for. Trump isn’t even going to debate with his opponents on these issues. By contrast, those opponents are invariably slippery and evasive, trimming their positions endlessly based on who they’re talking to.
Farage’s mistake in recent months, by contrast, has been to try and reason with the people who loathe him by pointing out that he is not at all the hate figure that they claim. This is a mistake because they need so badly for him to be that hate figure that they won’t moderate their opinions no matter what he says. I don’t blame him, though, given the threats to his physical safety that the spittle flecked obscenities of James O’Brien, Nick Lowles and others present to his and his family’s physical safety.
You say Hugh Bryant:
“Trump’s great strength is not his personality, which is not even an advantage, but the absolute clarity of his politics”.
Yet the clarity of his politics is so clear that it has made him a convicted felon, while he waits for dozens of other accusations to come before the courts.
The evidence for these are recorded on numerous news channels, stored on the cloud, and as importantly on the tapes Trump agreed to have recorded in his many interviews with Bob Woodward.
They used to call the disgraced President Nixon ‘Tricky Dicky’ but Trump makes him look like an innocent choir boy:
‘Despite recent positive reappraisals of Richard Nixon’s foreign-policy leadership, what never seems to change is the impression of his character as that of a perpetually vicious opportunist and congenital crook.’
How similar to the character also known as Donald Trump, although in fairness, Nixon was an honestly educated man.
Yet the clarity of his politics is so clear that it has made him a convicted felon
The problem with your ‘convicted felon’ narrative is that not a single one of the charges against him would get anywhere near a court in any European country. The US is shamed by its banana republic judiciary.
The jury didn’t seem to have a problem with the case.
The jury did what they were told to do.
By whom exactly?
We all know the verdict will be overturned. It was a joke.
Well, we both know that is a possibility, given that Trump has stacked the Supreme Court with his stooges. However, we both know that Trump has spent his entire adult life doing illegal things.
“Trump’s is a banal and mediocre person who often falls short of his own goals and aspirations often as a (result) of avoidable errors of which he refuses to learn from out of selfishness, pride and impulsivity.”
And this is the man you think should be the next US President?
this is an opinion. get it?
As opposed to the flagrantly corrupt sociopaths and demented figurehead currently in power, yes.
Who are these “flagrantly corrupt sociopaths”? Name names!
Biden, Pelosi, Harris, Obama, Clinton. Flagrantly corrupt, yes. Sociopaths: displayed every time they open their mouths. Let their record speak for them. Liars. No regard for the safety of others. Failure to fulfill their responsibilities.
Well, Biden and Harris are still “in power”, sure. As far as I can see, the other three currently hold no political office.
Will Trumpism survive Trump? Arguably it will be more effective once it is rid of the impediment of actually being associated with Trump himself.
It won’t last without Trump. After his term the Republican hacks will come out and reassert control of the party.
I’m not sure about this….he has definitely formed a solid base of republicans who back him. Some of them are full of it, sure, and will just pay lip service to whomever so they can keep their jobs. But I wonder if, after another four years of Trump, the party might try to continue with what he started.
Of course, if the party isn’t winning elections, then they might go back to the same old politics.
There are plenty of people who pander to Trump out of fear, but will they still do that when he is gone? It might be like the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin.
JD Vance
He is an excellent example of the fact that Trump has no actual heir.
We can but hope!
Fair comment.
One of the reasons I liked Trump was that he shook things up. He made it uncomfortable for a lot of people who had got used to that comfort and had a lot to hide. Nor did he particularly care about what he said. That made it not only a refreshing change but very entertaining, especially watching his targets trying to respond in their usual tiresome and evasive way of actually saying something.
Of course among many of my friends this put me on the right and then on the far right. Eventually I didn’t care. Even if he wins we have only four years before the door comes down again and we return to the dull, suffocating politics we’ve had for so long. I miss Trump already
I meant to add but couldn’t because of the time span for editing, that I imagine my feelings are universal.
What I love is the way people complain about Trump lying as if it was some kind of innovation in politics, the Labour Party never having existed.
Regarding the “very entertaining” nature of his responses, this is one aspect of part of the voting public that I have noted. Some people truly vote for the “most entertaining” candidate, which sounds like, but is not quite like, the “which candidate would you like to have a beer with” rationale. The latter refers to some level of shared values and attitudes. The subset of voters who vote for “most entertaining” may share very little, if any, values with the candidate. However, they are also somewhat blase about politics, and disengaged, figuring that no matter who you vote for, nothing really changes in the end. The “what will happen next” factor in a candidate then becomes a big deal, and just like it made reality TV a must watch, the candidate that provide the most entertaining diversion from the blandness and drudgery of everyday life gets the vote.
Trump as an ‘attitude’ rather than a real person explains much.
Some of the sympathetic list Author quotes might not show Trump in such good light though. Sometimes some support a reflection you can do without.
Perhaps more importantly has been the shift last 6mths in Foreign Policy thinking from Trumpists. How much Trump actually computes as he drifts into Bidenesque deterioration unclear but little doubt the Republicans now do see China-Russia-Iran-N Korea as a quartet working together and weakness with one encourages the others. That’s a big shift and much more hawkish. Possibly in part because intelligence shared with the relevant Congressional cmttes chaired by senior Republicans.
Trump as an ‘attitude’ rather than a real person
No, Trump is a set of policies. The enthusiasm of most of my Trump-voting acquaintances simply reflects their desperate need for those policies to be implemented and for the open borders, tolerance of violent crime, child mutilation, racialisation and pauperisation and abuse of working people to end. The vast majority are exasperated by his personal behaviour.
Did he actually “build that wall”?
He built as much as he could with the funding he was able to divert from elsewhere after Democrats blocked it in Congress.
And Biden sold off the materials Trump had acquired to build the wall for pennies on the dollar…
Except at the time the Democrats couldn’t block it as they didn’t control Congress. Fact is Trump and Republicans decided to not fund it.
Trump built it as much as Sir Christopher Wren built St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, though Sir Christopher didn’t have the same political problems.
I have been to London. St Paul’s Cathedral is actually there. Does the Wall run along the entire US-Mexico border?
They’re not Policies HB, they’re slogans. He needs much more ‘meat on the bone’ for them to be effective Policies he might navigate through Congress.
This is the problem you’ve had previously – thinking slogans are the same as Policies. The ability to turn them into legislation the art of Government. The slogan may encapsulate something you want but that’s not sufficient.
More unique problem for Trump is he cant stop contradicting himself or abject lying. He does get away with that with his base – it’s baked in. But for the votes in the middle he needs to win it just looks increasingly weird.
He just needs a majority in both houses.
He does. Second term Presidents become ‘domestic’ lame-ducks v quickly and that’s the lesson from History. They then tend to focus more on Foreign Policy. Both are reasons why his supporters shouldn’t expect much of what they hope. His attention span ain’t great either is it
Of course he has policies. You just don’t like them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53828147
You mean lying like the political parties of all stripes across the West that lied about immigration? Or the Biden Administration in particular lying about security of the American border, the basics of biology, censorship or the health of the President, not to mention Ukraine, covid, race, and the economy?
Didn’t Trump lie about how easily and quickly he’d build a Wall? Or how easily and quickly he’d junk Obamacare? He controlled Congress too. Don’t be saying you weren’t warned he can’t do the hard yards. You’ll get alot of Tweets though.
The politicians you support have just spent an entire election campaign lying through their teeth about absolutely everything. What’s the difference?
Sorry, I forgot. When you lie it’s OK because you’re nice.
….or how he’d get the Mexicans to pay for the Wall.
“Policies” like “Green New Deal”, or like “diversity is our strength”? Or policies like overt racism, open borders, gender fluidity, Biden is brilliant, Kamala is brilliant…
Trump’s “policies” can be summed up as “Me”.
To use one of Jim’s expressions idk. As a Brit born in the 50”s I am programmed to dislike self promoting ‘big heads.’ I realise this makes me utterly out of touch with the only fans/Tik Tok/instagram generation. Policy wise the only certainly is that he will be inconsistent.
On the other hand I project all my fears about 1984 style leftist totalitarianism onto the democrats.
As somebody else has noted, in 4 years there will be another “most important election in a generation” and the world will move on.
Yeah, this country has survived 250 years of elections, with many of them probably seeming like the “most important election”. I do admit I’m getting a bit tired of this hyperbolic rhetoric continually ratcheting up every single election cycle. Now we are facing the “destruction of democracy.” Please.
“What people outside of the West can see is that its political class and its chattering class has disappeared up its own backside. And Trump by contrast seems real – even if he is clearly an egomaniac braggart (which of course has its own appeal to many). It is a fair bet that history will judge Margaret Thatcher a greater force for good than Trump but the two leaders did have one vital thing in common; neither would – in the face of unprecedented media hostility – back down. And people notice this. Thatcher’s huge international appeal (in stark contrast to the hate-festing she got in her home country) was a recognition of her no bullshit Joan-of Arc-like passion and unstoppableness. Trump has – or appears to have – some of this quality. The great majority of Western politicians think it politic to dance a kind of tango with the media; to come across as emollient. Outside of the West this will seem weak-kneed to many. Both strategies have their upsides and downsides but, in terms of inspiring fierce loyalty, uncompromising wins….” https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/mrs-thatcher-and-the-good-life
People are tired of puppets
Biden is a puppet. Kamala is a puppet. Fixed it for you.
You write:
“It is a fair bet that history will judge Margaret Thatcher a greater force for good than Trump but the two leaders did have one vital thing in common; neither would – in the face of unprecedented media hostility – back down.”
Except Thatcher was never brought before even the lowest part of the UK’s legal system, the Magistrate’s Court, not even for a parking offence.
Whereas Trump has recently been found guilty of all 34 counts of fraud under campaign finance laws. And he faces even more accusations of serious criminal behaviour.
Do American voters really want the world to know that this criminal is going to be the next President of the United States of America?
Do American voters really want the world to know that this criminal is going to be the next President of the United States of America?
The world already knows that these convictions are fraudulent and will be overturned.
I think you will find a lot of voters don’t care about a president being human and a) sleeping around and b) paying her to keep it quiet.
They care more for his policies – on energy secure, defense, foreign policy, schooling..
And for his ability to be mentally agile and aggressive in defending his country’s interests and laws.
“Sleeping around” is one thing. “Paying her to keep it quiet” is another. It shows insecurity. It’s like Bill Clinton. I would have had some respect for the guy if he’s said “As a matter of fact, ah did have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky. What business is it of yours?”
Fraudulent charges that are destroying the legal system in America. Does the world really want a woman president who’s perfectly fine with weaponizing the justice system against a political opponent? You seem perfectly fine with it.
Trump is not Machiavelli nor is he Mother Teresa – in my opinion he is highly confident, way above being right. If he wins the coming elections, his performance might be a little different from his previous term, but I doubt that he will change America/the world in any significant or profound way. His enemies claim Trump will do the devil work and his followers hope Donald will take them to paradise; he’ll do neither!
Some liked him so much, in fact, that they weren’t that concerned with the Muslim ban.
Given the activities of Muslim zealots in Nigeria in the past few years I would have thought the ‘Muslim ban’, which was, of course, no such thing, would have been a major plus. Half the country is Christian.
When you add together all the “protests too much” articles about Trump and the Far Right (TM 2TK) you do wonder why that is their focus and not all the issues that were pointed out by said churnalists in the run-up to, say, the UK General Election.
Perhaps somebody should tell all Trump’s African supporters that he thinks their countries are sh*tholes. He’s not a fan of China either, and probably not of Vietnam; don’t know about Serbia, perhaps he doesn’t either.
I think they know, and many will agree
Exactly. Thats why they all seem to want to move to the USA.
he thinks their countries are sh*tholes.
So do they and everyone else on the planet, including you. You just don’t have the cojones to say so.
A ridiculous hit piece, perhaps this is why UnHerd is steadily losing more responsible journalists to the Free Press and other new publications?
As adults know, the reality is that Biden has brought the world the wars in Ukraine and Gaza with his own special blend of diplomatic incontinence and bullying weakness.
Trump didn’t start any wars, he beat ISIS after Obama opened the door to them in Iraq and he got the Abraham Accords in place without giving Iran tens of billions of dollars.
Trump is no Kissinger but he remains streets ahead of the Harris/Biden administration.
How is this a hit piece? Most thought Trump would be reviled internationally (as he is in Europe), and this is surprisingly positive.
Did you read the same article as me?
Please tell me how Biden started the wars in Ukraine and Israel. Seems to me that Putin invaded Ukraine , because he is trying to create the Russian empire before the revolution. Why do you think Finland joined NATO? Apparently, Biden directed Hamas to slaughter Israelis. Every one knows that Israel has been an enemy of the United States.
Biden didn’t START the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, but he sure as hell made no efforts that would have helped to prevent them. In fact, his payoff of $6 bn to Iran was a giant green light to go ahead and make mischief with Israel – let the US pay for it.
Biden’s State Dept, like Obama’s, is almost completely compromised by Iranian intelligence, and at the very least has a huge cadre of the Ayatollahs’ sympathisers who loathe Israel.
Well heeled Democratic donors, who are either Jewish or pro-Israel, are keeping the US-Israeli alliance intact, for the time being.
Otherwise, Israelis would be fighting Hamas alone.
Interesting article but the comment “Nigenians….weren’t that concerned with the Muslim ban’ is hardly earth shattering as about half of Nigeria is Christian, religion is geographically split and this was, very possibly, in a Christian bit.
Every time I see the expression “rules based international order” I think of uncontrolled US aggression, both overt and covert. I suspect that many people outside the influence of “the West” prefer Trump because he does not subscribe to that ghastly, meaningless phrase. And perhaps he will carry on from his first term by again not starting any wars.
If only African leaders were equally circumspect about the strings attached to Chinese “investment”.
Silly as it seems, “comedian” Patton Oswalt said that he can’t function without having someone to hate. Trump is that to many, especially the nabob class and their unthinking acolytes.
What they fail to grasp is how led around by the nose they are, unwilling or unable to recognize their own submission to Big Brother controlling the accepted narrative. Trump is just a man, not a god, not an ogre, not a myth. But he is the man needed now, and will be a Churchillian figure long after we’re dead.
Churchill won a war. What war has Trump won?
What Muslim ban, exactly?
Typical ‘unherd’ article, but this one is clueless on the backside of its pandering unctious prose: without realizing it, it seems, the author enumerates all the reasons why those of us who voted for and continue to support Trump admire him. In summary- No bullshit unending foreign wars with no intention to ‘win’, enforced borders with real border security, and free markets . The Tarriffs would be there because countries like China are unable/unwilling to actually engage in free trade, and must be coerced. It’s pretty simple.
Right, so “free markets” and “tariffs”? Sounds like a contradiction in terms to me.
Trump is a chronic bankrupt so why anyone would cite his business success, other than from complete ignorance?
Trump derangement correlates to ignorance quite well.
He’s winning in America too.
“In many instances, then, Trump’s foreign support is motivated by his businessman credentials”:
Something clearly lost in translation then as Trump has filed business bankruptcies on six separate occasions, and several of his ventures – including Trump Steaks and Trump University – have collapsed.
He has also shielded his tax information from scrutiny, and reporting in 2020, The New York Times revealed years of income tax avoidance and chronic financial losses.
“Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” is a tell-all book written by American psychologist Mary L. Trump about her uncle, former U.S. President Donald Trump, and his family.
The book provides an insider view of Trump family dynamics and reveals details about financial dealings, including Mary L Trump’s work as the anonymous source who revealed her uncle’s suspected tax fraud. The Trump family launched a lawsuit in an attempt to stop its publication but was unsuccessful in delaying the release of the book.
The book also accuses Donald of paying a friend, Joe Shapiro, to take the SAT for him. (The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States.)
After her uncle’s presidential campaign, Mary Trump came into contact with The New York Times, and provided boxes of tax documents from the Trump family as an anonymous source. The documents were used for a 2018 article by David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner that detailed financial fraud by Trump, for which the authors won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
Mary L Trump states that, due to her uncle’s psychological capacity being forcefully stopped from fully developing at a young age by his father, (Fred Trump) he remains extremely susceptible to manipulation by more capable local and foreign actors.
This is rather like what happened with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un with whom Donald Trump exchanged 24 ‘love letters’.
[Also see Bob Woodward’s books Rage and Fear based on taped interviews with former President Trump.]
The book by Mary L Trump covers how she provided The New York Times with confidential tax documents from the Trump family, resulting in the Times alleging that Donald engaged in fraud, as well as reporting that Donald transferred approximately $413 million from his father’s real estate businesses to aid his own struggling businesses during the 1990s.
The final chapter of Mary L Trump’s book is the one to read if you’re really short of time.
Explain why and how Mary Trump is given unchallenged credibility. Use something other than your personal dislike of Donald.
I think the boxes of financial documents are the credibility here. Of course, I’m not too concerned about his business credentials or personality at this point. Anyone with a single digit IQ can see that this guy has had plenty of failed businesses and behaves like a buffoon.
But these arguments don’t matter, just like calling out Kamala for have an annoying laugh. What matters is policy, and republican policy is what this country needs right now. So, Donald it is.
Got it. Buy the book and only read the last chapter.
Trump offers, globally, a rallying point against the obvious and dangerous tyranny rapidly consuming the West.
I thought it a fair and balanced piece and easy to read. I wonder if the US Democrats and their peers in Europe:s libertarian globalist
elite realise just how much they and their arrogant, disingenuous and deceitful policies are to blame for Trump:s increasing popularity. Dealmaker rather than warmonger says it all.
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Trump may be winning outside of the States because people have seen Team Biden in action and they know Kamala would be more of it. How’s that working out? Trump is the only president in recent memory under whom NO new war was launched. He presided over the Abraham Accords. He cajoled NATO members into taking some responsibility for their own defense, and he’s not likely to sanction the further killing of Ukrainians.
Like the man or not, you know what you’re getting. He does not speak accented English when appearing in front of certain crowds; he does not put on certain clothes for the sake of fitting in with particular crowds; and, he doesn’t treat half the country as unworthy people in need of re-education. Doesn’t mean he’s perfect but, again, you know what you’re getting. He negotiates in business terms rather than diplomatic tones. He will walk away from a potential deal if it does not serve America’s interests.
Trump “doesn’t treat half the country as unworthy people in need of re-education”? But this is precisely what both the DNC and the RNC do. (Just different halves of the country constitute the “basket of deplorables” or the “47% moochers.”)
It’s too bad, because I figure about 80% of us are reasonable people, even when elections don’t go our way. I can relate to all sorts of people who have differing opinions on things, and we can all go out and be friends. But there is that 20%….probably made up mostly of misguided youngsters and fringe lunatics that both parties love to zero in on, and make it seem like we need to be ready for civil war or whatever other nonsense.
I also picked up this astute comment:
“Is Donald Trump in the process of having a “major” meltdown?”
‘Combover Caligula reached his seventies posing as a billionaire and the hottest thing in pants. Gossip columnists loved him.
But the biggest mistake he ever made was to run for president, because the White House press corps does not take candidates’ words at face value. We now know that if he was ever a billionaire, it was only right after his father died, [when] he inherited most of the old man’s estate, and he hadn’t yet blown most of it due to lousy business decisions.
That he’s a bad businessman and a con artist is actually the least of his problems. He’s facing criminal charges and is accused of being a traitor. At one time he could control his own press coverage through financial settlements and NDAs*, but that no longer works for him. No wonder he’s unhinged’.
*Non Disclosure Agreements
Can’t recall from where I got this analysis but it’s worth quoting.
Can’t recall from where I got this analysis but it’s worth quoting. ——- Perhaps it came up during one of your TDS therapy sessions.
Thank you for sharing a great example of why the “D” in TDS stands for “derangement.”
Donald Trump is a man born on third base who then stole second base.
the White House press corps does not take candidates’ words at face value
Are you serious? Have you ever watched a CNN interview? Jeez!
Well that’s fine, Let’s just accuse someone of something and then run away saying “I read it somewhere”. Can I do that with you?
Trevor Noah observed years ago that Trump is a typical African dictator. His appeal might be as simple as that.
It amazes me that people like you keep coming up with these ideas. He was actually President for four years. Did you see anything suggesting he was a typical African Dictator. Your racism is showing too. Dictators aren’t just African.
Good point! Nothing “African” about Trump. “Dictator”, sure…..
“ In the West, nationalism is often associated with ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
Who thinks that?
Oh, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Or any MSM mention of “Christian nationalism.” Or any characterization of contemporary American society as the New Jim Crow.
So DT was “callous” toward NATO – meaning he demanded that NATO member nations actually pay their dues (the horror!). Sorry, that’s a feature, not a bug. His “Muslim ban” wasn’t a ban on Muslims, it specifically identified seven problematic countries and curtailed immigration from them. Much of Europe has demonstrated its sanctimonious commitment to multiculturalism – and we see how that’s working out.
You’re so right. He didn’t place a ban on Indonesia, a country with the highest Muslim population in the world.
I think Trump is also seen to be the only person who has the credentials to broker a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Yes, which he will do by selling out the Ukrainians to his buddy Putin.
What is this “buddy” business? In what way?
He is “Putin’s Poodle”. He turns into a fawning sycophant in Putin’s company.
Well you’ve just repeated yourself. What’s your proof of that, or is it, yet again, just a tired opinion?
In his recent “interview” with Elon Musk, Trump’s idolising of Putin was apparent.
So would it be true to say that the Global Majority favours Trump?
Travel broadens the mind. Good piece.
Great News! Trump should run for President of Nigeria!
Surely the fact that Trump has boasted that he will immediately suspend democracy if he is re-elected perfectly explains the constitution of his international fan club?
It would be interesting to see more articles about global issues written from the perspective of countries other than the UK, the US and Western Europe.
Excellent article and makes perfect sense to me. I am glad to see it.