Date: 2025-08-20 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028734
TRUMP
AMERICA ALONE
Mallen Baker: It’s Official - The World Hates Trump’s America
AMERICA ALONE
Mallen Baker: It’s Official - The World Hates Trump’s America
Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXK5_SmSZ_A
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Transcript
- 0:00
- there are some who would have you
- believe that if you're not a fan of
- Donald Trump and what he's doing as
- president of the most powerful country
- in the world that means you have a
- syndrome
- well according to recent polling by the
- Pew Research Center that would mean that
- large numbers of people across
- significant parts of the world also have
- a syndrome of course it's possible that
- just as it used to be when we had adult
- conversations about politics people's
- perceptions and preferences on how power
- is exercised well those shape how they
- feel about any country and any leader if
- all this research said was that a lot of
- people don't like Donald Trump then fine
- it would be worth 10 seconds of your
- time maybe but there are a few details
- in the breakdowns that give us more
- insights pose some intriguing challenges
- 1:00
- to how we see the world and I think are
- worth discussing further the Pew
- 1:05
- Research study covered 24 countries
- across the world getting a sample from
- all continents and selected they say for
- a number of factors which they describe
- as including feasibility security
- political climate and budget as well as
- the size of any country's population and
- economy first the big item confidence in
- President Trump himself let's start with
- the easy headline yes in 19 out of those
- 24 countries there was a majority of
- people who had no confidence in
- President Trump to quote do the right
- thing regarding world affairs
- unsurprisingly confidence was lowest in
- Canada a number of European countries
- including the Netherlands France Spain
- Germany and Sweden also Australia Turkey
- and the lowest scores of all also
- 2:00
- unsurprisingly from Mexico the five
- outlier countries where there was at
- least a bare majority of support Victor
- Orban's Hungary 53% support India 52%
- strong support as you would really
- expect from Israel even stronger support
- in Nigeria which has been identified as
- an interesting feature there for some
- years and also shared to a lesser degree
- in Kenya not so much in South Africa
- whose leaders Trump's ambushed in the
- White House recently with conspiracy
- theories about white genocide now how
- does that affect the way that people see
- the United States as a country well as
- you might expect the fact Trump is now
- in charge has led to a degradation in
- how America is viewed across the world
- over the course of a single year the
- question of whether people had a
- favorable or unfavorable opinion of the
- United States plummeted in Mexico from
- 3:00
- 61% to 29%
- plummeted in Sweden from 49% to 19% and
- then substantively declined in a number
- of others interestingly there was no
- significant change in some countries the
- UK Greece Hungary Argentina all of those
- were down but only by a couple of points
- and yet all bar Hungary came out with a
- negative view of Trump so more people in
- those countries base their ratings on
- the country of the United States
- somewhat independently
- of their views of the actual leader of
- the country partly supported you might
- speculate on the fact that none of them
- are per se countries that the
- administration has directly attacked now
- Israel and Nigeria from an already high
- base and Turkey from a low base have
- become slightly more positive if you
- look at the history of confidence in the
- 4:01
- US president since 2001 which has been
- recorded consistently only in four
- countries the UK France Spain and
- Germany you might at first glance simply
- conclude that it goes along partisan
- lines relatively low and declining for
- George W bush Republican very high for
- Obama Democrat plunging to a new low for
- Trump first term Republican recovering
- significantly for Biden Democrat
- although nowhere close to Obama's
- ratings and plunging again now for Trump
- second term well maybe it does but
- centerright conservative parties have
- spent quite a good part of that period
- in government for all of those countries
- during that period
- so I do think you have to factor in the
- difference between how leaders are
- perceived abroad versus how they're
- perceived at home there's quite a long
- 5:00
- history of there being a mismatch
- between those two so let's explore that
- quickly because it is relevant to this
- sort of polling perceptions of your
- leaders at home they are generally
- shaped by how well they seem to govern
- the factors that most affect your
- day-to-day life if the economy is bad is
- crime is bad if unemployment is high
- you'll be more inclined to be negative
- about their leadership however well they
- seem to be doing swanning around
- international summits making speeches
- and dealing with great geopolitical
- questions of our time about what happens
- in the wider world now sure you might
- well care about those things as well but
- is a very natural hierarchy of concerns
- first of all me then my family then my
- community then my country then my world
- if things are going wrong in the world
- that you believe may have negative
- impacts further down that chain then yes
- 6:00
- your interest in what's going on in the
- world will go up if all seems quiet then
- much less so now of course people
- overseas also apply that exact same
- framework to how they see your leaders
- the president of the United States is
- always in a special category of course
- because the US has been de facto the
- uniolar world superpower for a couple of
- decades its economy is the most powerful
- in the world its culture as sold
- overseas via Hollywood and multiple
- global brands influences everyone else's
- culture to some degree by design and of
- course it has a massive military that
- has been more active overseas than any
- other and you know enough nuclear
- weapons to end all life on Earth so yeah
- we take an interest when the country
- decides to hand the keys to that car to
- someone who might struggle to walk in a
- straight line and or talk in complete
- 7:01
- sentences which we've noticed is
- becoming a really bad habit recently now
- George W bush was derided abroad for his
- occasional incoherence he fumbled over
- language said dumb stuff and he pursued
- the highly unpopular war with Iraq which
- seemed to many people to be simply
- revenge for what had happened in the
- past being disguised as being connected
- to the attack on the United States on
- September the 11th 2001 and there was no
- link of course then Barack Obama took
- over many people were delighted because
- it seemed that America was finally
- moving past its obsession with race but
- also Obama was very articulate possibly
- one of the best speech makers that has
- held the office of president and that's
- what you see abroad
- elegant humane thoughtful speeches from
- the person in charge of the most
- powerful country in the world now were
- 8:01
- his domestic policies any good at all
- that's a deeply polarizing question
- within the United States but that's not
- the question by which leaders get judged
- elsewhere in the world now this isn't
- just an American thing i give you Mikail
- Gorbachov the last leader of the Soviet
- Union who was highly regarded and
- respected across the world for
- introducing reforms to the old
- authoritarian Soviet system introducing
- Glasnost the policy of increased
- openness in government and peristrika
- beginning the process of system reform
- gorbachev is credited as being the
- catalyst that helped to bring the cold
- war to an end and the beginner of the
- process that enabled eastern and central
- European countries to escape from the
- dictatorships of the Kremlin and
- establish themselves as free nations
- again gorbachev also by the way was the
- 9:00
- only Soviet or Russian leader in recent
- history who didn't amass great wealth as
- a result of his position engaging in
- routine corruption to do so he lived
- only on his official salary now none of
- that mattered he was and remains hated
- by most of his own people they saw
- economic decline the fall of their great
- empire as being his legacy and it was
- extremely tough for them to live through
- so anyway Obama was appreciated in
- Europe whether you think that's exactly
- as it should have been or the opposite
- then Trump while Obama had made speeches
- that you know made you proud to be human
- Trump once suggested nuking huracans
- yes in his first term Trump talked like
- a buffoon made George W bush seem like
- Shakespeare in comparison but you know
- after the shock of him first taking over
- you can see in the graph how the world
- started to get used to it those ratings
- 10:01
- started to go back up from a low base
- admittedly the US economy was doing well
- which meant the wider global economy was
- doing all right until COVID came along
- then again you had a global crisis and
- how the person in the White House
- performed seemed to have an impact much
- closer to home wherever you were in the
- world and Trump floundered on COVID we
- don't need to rehearse the details we
- all remember those times well enough now
- Biden recovered it significantly but it
- declined through his term because he
- came across as an old man who was
- steadily losing his grip as we've
- discussed and starting from the
- disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan
- the ratings of Biden began to plummet
- amongst those countries so look maybe
- I'm wrong maybe those European countries
- are all just much more friendly to
- leftist leaders than right-wing ones
- there will certainly be some who claim
- that of Europe generally but it doesn't
- 11:02
- match the voting records in those
- countries even if you make allowances
- for the differences in how left and
- right are defined here's another
- interesting detail they compared the
- ratings of four different world leaders
- across all 24 countries the percentage
- of those who have confidence in that
- leader to do the right thing regarding
- world affairs they compared French
- President Mccron President Trump Chinese
- Premier Xiinping and Russia's Vladimir
- Putin macron comes out best with
- slightly positive ratings 46% confidence
- versus 42% no confidence he is of course
- the only nonauthoritarian
- on that list i mean yes various people
- in France will have negative views of
- his arrogance and high-handedness and
- might categorize that as acting like a
- king whatever but separate out the
- 12:01
- domestic political rhetoric from the
- fact France is democratic macron
- supports the democracy whatever his
- failings may or may not be then you have
- Trump confidence of 34% across those 24
- countries which includes the five
- positively minded towards him remember
- 62%
- no confidence then Xiinping who most I
- suspect would rate as a great deal more
- competent than Trump as a politician he
- is lower still 25% say they have
- confidence he will do the right thing
- versus 64% not you'll note a higher
- degree of don't knows in that category
- then you have Putin unsurprisingly rock
- bottom given that he actually invaded
- his neighbor and aims to actively
- destabilize numerous other countries
- with a program of special measures 16%
- 13:02
- confidence 82% no confidence this to me
- is the authoritarian scale people can
- admire authoritarian leaders as strong
- leaders they can imagine they might be
- strong champions for their country
- obviously from the figures we've seen
- not in Trump's case but that doesn't
- mean they trust them to do the right
- thing by the world because they are out
- for themselves and for their personal
- power base in their countries
- authoritarians are far more likely to
- engage in zero sum thinking where they
- seek to profit by your failure
- democratic leaders far more likely to
- believe that promoting economic
- prosperity worldwide is a winwin
- proposition because the majority benefit
- and you can afford to help the minority
- who don't whether they're right or not
- isn't the point that is what provokes
- 14:02
- trust in a leader that they will do the
- right thing and it's worth noting Trump
- is currently taking his country in the
- authoritarian direction he sees that as
- being admirable in his view of the might
- makes right world order so it's not
- surprising that he's heading down that
- scale after all he has personally shown
- a willingness to reduce the economic
- growth of the entire world with his
- radical terrorist program his supporters
- might have been persuaded that that was
- good for America it's clearly not good
- for the world but what about that strong
- man thing how do people actually see the
- Trump phenomenon now some of this is
- where it gets surprising now okay the
- first bit isn't surprising at all the
- world sees him as arrogant 80% versus
- 15:01
- 17% for 2/3 of those pled that
- translates into a strong leader 67% say
- that describes him 30% say it doesn't
- now I find that fascinating because on
- conventional measures are what makes a
- good leader in business in the military
- in politics he's a terrible leader good
- leaders surround themselves with the
- most talented people bad leaders
- surround themselves with yesmen who are
- less competent than the leader himself
- so he never feels threatened and they're
- never allowed to contradict him in
- anything good leaders take advice from
- the best people before taking decisions
- they spend a lot of time trying to
- reduce the barriers between themselves
- and their own teams and the other people
- who might be impacted by their decisions
- trump did none of that in his first term
- he's learned a handful of the formulas
- from by appearances of his second term
- but barely he still makes everything
- 16:02
- about him nevertheless can't argue with
- the figures people transfer what they
- see of someone's confidence their
- arrogance their aggression towards
- others and it comes across as a strong
- leader worth noting because when people
- feel threatened a strong leader is
- likely to be what they intuitively
- believe will most help them the fact
- that they might be making a category
- error in how they perceive the
- leadership qualities in what's on offer
- well look that's important for us to
- know at the same time big majorities
- believe that Trump is dangerous we sit
- side by side with strong leader
- apparently
- i mean maybe for mafia bosses you would
- say yes it's kind of fascinating that it
- applies to presidents of the most
- powerful country in the world an
- unfeasibly large percent of people 42%
- seems to believe that Trump understands
- 17:01
- complex problems which I don't know what
- to do with that i mean this is a man who
- thinks climate change doesn't exist and
- he's firing large numbers of any
- scientists who say otherwise but okay
- the majority 53%
- have noticed or maybe I don't know they
- have a syndrome or something 51% have
- said they don't believe he's diplomatic
- no kidding 56% say he's not
- wellqualified to be president 66% say
- he's not honest one final thing worth
- noting from this survey which very much
- comes down to changing perceptions of
- the global world order people were asked
- 'Who is the world's leading economic
- power?' Now on paper that's still the
- United States although it's in relative
- decline that's not how the world sees
- the changing dynamics right now just
- eight out of 24 said that it was the
- 18:02
- United States 12 said that it is China
- and the remainer say that it's equally
- both momentum counts for a lot in how
- people perceive such things there's no
- doubt that those countries which include
- lots of Europeans but plus also
- Indonesia Mexico South Africa and
- Argentina they see the momentum going
- solidly the other way you would have to
- think the time of Trump is only
- accelerating that perception based on
- how this polling shows that he is seen
- and arguably what he is doing another
- thing worth noting the growing gender
- divide in the United States on political
- support for MAGA or not that is also
- present as a global phenomenon in the 17
- out of 24 countries where there was a
- statistically significant difference men
- were more likely to have confidence in
- Trump to do the right thing in world
- 19:01
- affairs than were women it maybe
- indicates that the sort of culture war
- issues that the United States has been
- playing out so aggressively and noisily
- over recent years that has spilled over
- enough into the rest of the world to
- have become a global phenomenon i rather
- suspect that alone would need to be the
- subject of its own video to pull out all
- of the details of what's really going on
- you may have your own thoughts in which
- case leave them in the comments below
- there's a lot more nuance and detail in
- the full report i link to it in the
- video description and recommend that you
- give it a look bear in mind it doesn't
- tell us anything per se about President
- Trump himself it tells us a lot about
- the countries they surveyed and how they
- see the world about what they value and
- what they trust in leaders and what
- concerns and what worries them you may
- 20:01
- think they're right in all of those
- things you may think that they're wrong
- and of course if you're a very special
- particular kind of person you may have
- decided that they all have by definition
- a syndrome
- now of course if a majority of the
- entire world all happen to have the
- syndrome just possible that it's you who
- has the syndrome