Trump once claimed that “trade wars are good and easy to win.” His strategy for victory involves torching the global economy – and America’s own in the process. He slapped tariffs on friends and foes alike, from China to Canada to the EU, bragging that it would punish them. These tariffs functioned as taxes on American consumers and businesses (no, China isn’t cutting us a check).

Even US government analyses dubbed Trump’s new tariffs “the largest tax increase in at least a generation,” hitting the typical American household with over $1,200 in extra monthly costs. So much for the great dealmaker: his tariff barrage has sparked retaliatory trade wars, hurt US exports, and left American farmers living off bailouts. At the same time, their soybeans rot in storage and every major US ally is planning life without the United States as a partner for the first time.

Winning?

It’s more like self-sabotage, alienating trading partners who used to consider the US a reliable economic, political, and military leader.

Absurd Ambitions: Threatening Canada and Mexico

In Trump’s second term, even America’s neighbors aren’t safe from his imperial daydreams. The President decided that Manifest Destiny was due for a comeback – musing about annexing Canada and making it the 51st state, lying about Canadian fentanyl and illegal immigrants trying to seek entry into Trump’s third world ‘Murica. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed that Trump wasn’t entirely joking about “absorbing” Canada; in fact, Trump insisted Canadians “would like it” because they’d get big tax cuts and better health care under US rule. (Sure, because nothing screams freedom to Canadians like becoming part of the USA.) Trudeau had to flatly reply that Canada had “not a snowball’s chance in hell” to join the Union.

Mike Myers and 91% of the country agree, btw.

Trump also aimed Mexico with mafioso-style threats and 25% tariffs, threatening to invade Mexico this week. He browbeat Mexico over immigration and even toyed with sending US troops across the border. After Trump moved to label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations – a step widely seen as a pretext for possible US military action – Mexico’s President (now Claudia Sheinbaum) warned there would “never” be tolerance for a US “invasion” of Mexican sovereignty. In other words: Keep your troops on your side of the Rio Grande. It’s quite an accomplishment when our closest neighbors publicly remind America that annexation and invasion are diplomacy no-nos in the 21st century.

That hasn’t stopped Trump from amassing troops at the southern border, by the way…

Alienating Allies, Embracing Autocrats

Trump has managed to insult or threaten nearly every US ally in NATO – and he did it with gusto. He’s called Germany “a captive of Russia” to Chancellor Merkel’s face, slammed the UK, France, Canada, Australia – you name it. He berates allies as deadbeats for not paying enough into NATO, as if our alliances are a landlord-tenant arrangement and he’s the angry landlord. Trump’s idea of alliance management mostly involves Twitter tirades and browbeating partner nations on defense spending, all while openly musing about quitting NATO if they don’t bend to his will. (Nothing builds confidence among friends like threatening to bail on mutual defense.) It’s no wonder NATO countries have been left shaken, questioning whether the US would really have their back in a crisis.

He’s valueless. Virtueless and void of character.

Meanwhile, the only foreign leaders Trump seems to praise consistently are the ones who run police states. He has showered Russia’s Vladimir Putin with flattery and benefit of the doubt – even taking Putin’s word over US intelligence about election interference, to bipartisan shock. He literally said “we fell in love” after exchanging “beautiful letters” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, a bromance that did nothing to rid Pyongyang of a single nuke. And Sudan? There is not a peep of criticism there either. If you’re an authoritarian not in NATO, you get a pass. Trump’s America went so far as to side with the world’s rogues over its democratic allies: in one UN vote condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine, the US joined Russia, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus and company in voting “no.” Yes, the United States under Trump literally aligned its stance with some of the globe’s most repressive regimes against its own allies. Trump has practically turned foreign relations upside-down over the past 38 days: friends are treated as foes, and foes get the red-carpet treatment. It’s a diplomatic doctrine of alienating the good guys while hugging it out with the bad guys – and it has left US alliances in tatters.

Nobody likes America.

Being an adjudicated rapist, 34 time felon might have something to do with it.

Thieving for Trump Bibles and 60 Billion in bullshit crypto is up there too.

Calling Zelensky a dictator didn’t help. Mocking Zelensky with a bunch of rich fascist Trumpers on National television for an hour didn’t help either.

Calling Canada a fake country and PM Trudeau (whether you like him or not) didn’t help. Neither did all the talk about taking Canada and Mexico by force.

Firing 3 million Americans in less than a month (including 17k veterans), shutting down the NIH, USAID, Department of Education, Vaccine programs, Cuts to Medicaid, taking the cap off of prescription drugs, attacking news outlets, political opponents with lawsuits and fake investigations, isn’t helping either.

Sucking Putin’s dick while excoriating Zelelnsky and Ukraine while they are desperately trying to stop Russian genocide of Ukraine’s men women and children IN UKRAINE might have been the nail in America’s reputational coffin. America’s Global Reputation: From Leader to Laughingstock

Global Laughingstock:

Trust in American leadership has plummeted to historic lows across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Even long-time allies now hedge their bets, unsure if Washington will be a reliable partner or a source of the next international crisis. Rather than being seen as a steady-handed superpower, Trump’s America is viewed as a chaotic actor – a blustering bully that one moment demands loyalty, and the next moment cozies up to your adversary behind your back. The result? Allies are distancing themselves, adversaries are exploiting the cracks, and global audiences are chuckling in disbelief. From the UN General Assembly giggles to that diaper-clad “Trump Baby” balloon bobbing over London, the symbols of America’s diminished standing are impossible to ignore.

In the end, Trump’s second-term diplomacy seems to be uniting the world — just not in the way a US president would hope. He’s uniting them in derision and distrust toward the United States. It’s quite an accomplishment: turning the country that once championed the international order into the punchline of international jokes. Trump promised to make America respected again; instead, he’s made it a spectacle. And as the world looks on in equal parts amusement and alarm, one thing is clear: American leadership has taken a vacation – and global despots and rivals are more than happy to fill the void.

Why? Because everybody hates (Trump’s) America.