EMERGENCY: WORLD TURNS AGAINST TRUMP, USA IN CRISIS

The gold standard for public opinion polling is Pew Research Center. And Pew Research Center has found that the entire world is turning against the United States. And unfortunately, it's because of Donald Trump. And I say unfortunately, because he is going to be here for several more years. Only 23 percent have confidence in Donald Trump around the world. Now, Pew Research Center has been tracking opinion really for decades. They are one of the best. And the numbers are ugly, dilapidated, disgusting, shriveled and flaccid. I mean, it's just these tiny, pathetic, shrunken numbers for Trump. And I believe that this is bad for every American. Now, let's first look at the data. Pew polled 36 countries, a median of 23 percent of adults say that they are confident in Trump's leadership, 23 percent. That's fewer than one out of four. And the kind of tragic part of all of it is that the ratings for the United States have fallen along with lack of confidence in Donald Trump himself. In a number of countries, confidence in the United States has fallen by double digits in a single year as Donald Trump just sort of continues this reign of incompetence and decline. Look at the collapse among some of our top allies. In fact, in Canada, four years ago, under Biden, 83 percent of Canadians said, hey, we see the United States as a reliable partner. Eighty three percent under Biden today, only 35 percent of Canadians trust the United States. It is not lost on me that when Trump was president, he insisted that the country was respected under him during his first term. And then when Biden became president, Trump insisted that the United States is no longer respected because Biden is president. But if we reelect Trump, which the country did, the U.S. would go back to being respected globally under Donald Trump. But much like many of the other things that Donald Trump says, the opposite is true. Respect for the United States around the world has completely collapsed since Donald Trump came back to power. Now, think back to the Iraq war under George W. Bush in 2003. There were a lot of people around the world who didn't like us that we are less popular now than when George W. Bush was carrying out his ill-advised war based on faulty intelligence in Iraq. In 2003, Germans are more negative in their opinion about the United States today under Trump than they were during the height of the ill-advised Iraq war. Think about that. The countries that most dislike and distrust Trump are pretty diverse. This is another interesting angle. Turkey, a Muslim country, Sweden, a Scandinavian social democracy, Mexico, a Latin American Catholic country. These are some of the countries that least trust Trump. And they are very different among themselves. Now, I already know, you know, if there's any MAGAs watching, I already know how MAGAs react to this sort of news. They go, who cares? Who cares about, you know, the opinions of other countries? We're the United States. We're right about everything. These other countries are wrong about everything. You know, we these sissy Italians with their espresso, the French people with their steak frites don't like Trump. Or, you know, David, your fellow Argentinians with your delicious milanesa and empanadas and your cool coffee shops. You guys in Argentina don't like Trump. We don't care. Screw you. And it's very funny. But I would say to them, hold on a second. You should care about global opinion of the United States if you care about American jobs. When foreign consumers and investors and tourists and businesses lose confidence and trust in the United States, they don't travel to the United States as much. They buy less from the United States. They invest less here and they look for alternatives in other parts of the world. What about national security? When allies trust the United States and the president, they are more likely to share intelligence. They're more likely to agree with or support American decisions about sanctions or treaties or whatever. If you're a national security hawk, other countries are more likely to buy American weapons. I mean, like, it's not really I'm not big on the military industrial complex, but if you are, you would see that more American weapons are purchased from your favorite defense contractors if other countries trust the United States. We're more likely to get cooperation on security. All of those things are more likely when the United States is respected. What about the dollar? This is another big issue. The dollar's dominance depends partly on trust. America's financial advantages with the dollar is the reserve currency to a degree exist because other countries see the United States as stable. They see the United States as reliable and that confidence is an asset. And if global opinion doesn't matter, why does Trump constantly talk about being respected? In other words, Trump himself claims endlessly claim when Biden was president, no one respects us. And it's really important that our countries respect us. And now that he's back, Trump claims other countries do respect me. So clearly, Trump believes that it it just so happens that we are less respected than we've been in a very long time. Now, let me say one other thing. The military understands this a lot better than politicians. Generals and diplomats spend decades building relationships militarily and diplomatically because they all know that when we have cooperation from allies, American lives are safer. Financially, we are better off during conflicts and crises when we have those military and diplomatic relationships. So one of the confusions that I think underlies the sort of flippant nature of a lot of these magas going, we don't give a damn. Being feared is not the same as being respected. Countries can dislike you, distrust you and still temporarily cooperate out of necessity. But that is a much weaker position than having genuine allies who see the president as respectable and stable. You don't really have to care about foreign feelings. You should care about is the United States stronger, wealthier, safer and more influential when the president is respected or when the president is not respected? I believe the answer is obvious. And global confidence affects all of these areas. And the numbers are an embarrassing disaster. And as you look around the world, you are writing off the opinions of others at our own financial, national security and even sociocultural peril, I would argue embarrassingly bad numbers. The David Pakman Show at David Pakman dot com.