'Leaders all over the world understand that Trump is only there for two more years & then he's gone'

Now reconnect, this time by telephone, to Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. Thank you for speaking with us from New York City. Sure, my pleasure. When you were with us a few weeks back, you were insistent that we had already reached peak Trump, as you put it. The election night results a rout. Constitutionally, Congress controls the purse strings. Republican lawmakers can now feel it's safe to cross swords with an 80-year-old lame duck president if they don't agree with him. But Donald Trump has pushed the boundaries of executive power. He's ruled by decree. He's gutted government agencies, weaponized the Justice Department without oversight. He still rules the airwaves and he's still commander-in-chief for 26 months. Ian Bremmer, are you sure that we've reached peak Trump? Yes, I think that that process is only going to accelerate now. You already saw Vice President J.D. Vance come out yesterday and talk about the reasons for why the election was lost, and Trump afterwards saying, yeah, he basically agrees with J.D., including on Israel policy, including on the Iran war. That's already showing a level of constraint, an ability of those around him to force reality. In front of the sitting but lame duck president, you will see Democrats in the House and Senate flexing muscles in terms not only of the investigations they will lead, but also in their unwillingness to provide support for defense and budgetary purposes that are necessary for Trump, unless they're willing to listen to them on issues like continuing to provide intelligence support. For Ukraine, selling weapons to the Europeans in not dramatically escalating an extremely unpopular and disruptive war in Iran. So, again, I think leaders all over the world understand that Trump is only there for two more years and then he's gone. And after he goes away, the United States is going to have an entirely different set of leaders to work with. And those foreign leaders will start to engage more. With the America that they expect to deal with after Trump is gone, then the remaining months that are in his purview. Yeah, Europeans certainly rooting for change. We can listen to a clip of the Czech Republic's sometimes Trumpy prime minister, Andre Babiš. I sincerely hope that Donald Trump will finally begin to focus on what he promised, ending the war in Ukraine and, of course, resolving the conflicts in the Strait of Hormuz, because these two issues are having a profoundly negative impact on all of Europe. Now, Ian Bremmer, we've had a lot of reactions in Europe from noted Trump critics like the Spanish prime minister. That one's interesting because it comes from somebody who's sometimes a big supporter of Donald Trump. Well, sure. And Republicans here in the United States, many senators, members of the House will privately tell you and have told me that they also feel like this loss is squarely on the hands of the president, that the affordability problem is because of a war in Iran that he wanted, that that has been an enormous failure, a Russia-Ukraine war that he said he could end, but he hasn't. Also, a massive amount of corruption. He's benefiting himself and those around him and not showing a lot of concern about the affordability issues that most rank-and-file voters, Democrat, Republican, and Independent, are saying very loudly they're deeply uncomfortable. So Trump's message for how he got elected and got re-elected in 2024, that went over pretty well. But Trump's ability and willingness to implement on that message, with the exception of migration and border security, where he's been successful. But on the rest of it, particularly the economic side, it's been an utter failure. And the result of that is the biggest loss that any sitting president in their party has experienced since 1974, since Watergate. That's over 50 years. So, I mean, truly, America is a historic place. I mean, Trump, back in 2024, engineered for himself the biggest political comeback in American political history. And now, only two years later, the biggest loss in 50 years. But we see those images of him on Wednesday touring that White House ballroom. To people on this side of the Atlantic, that seemed like he was completely out of touch. But is it not perhaps looking at it in a different way? His message or his way of saying it doesn't matter what's going on in Congress. The power is here with me at the White House. The focus has been on those things for months and months now, and it is true that Trump cares a lot about putting his name on things, whether it's the Kennedy Center or whether it's Greenland. He's failed in both of those efforts. He cares a lot about building monuments to himself and his legacy, and he's certainly succeeding on that with the ballroom and the East Wing. But most American people don't care about that. He'll continue to do it because it's what he's personally focused on. It's not going to have a great deal of impact on foreign relations. It's not going to have a great deal of impact on domestic policy. Policy. So. So, I mean, yes, Trump as president, 80 years old, will continue to focus on what he wants. But I think the more concerning thing is that he's losing a step mentally. He's rambling. He's incoherent. And the end of Biden's administration, he lost a lot of support within his own inner circle and ultimately was forced out not to run for reelection. And Kamala Harris ran a failed campaign that allowed Trump to be reelected for a second term. I think that is a big part of what's happening to Trump here is he's just he's too old to be up for the rigors of this job. He's focusing on things that don't really matter. And ultimately, that's going to weaken his power and weaken his disruptive capacity. Yes, two more years to go, but nowhere near the level of disruption that he had on the global stage at the beginning of this term. Ian Bremmer, so many thanks for joining us here on France 24. My pleasure. I was talking. Stay with us. There's much more to come. We'll be seeing how those again, those U.S. elections may be impacting the situation in Israel, where the lines are moving fast when it comes to forming a government and power may be slipping from the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu. Stay with us.