All of Donald Trump’s White House communications staff lie and offer up terrible visions of how the United States should work. It’s their job. But they each have their own personal style, and if you want sweeping, smarmy, B-movie kind of quotes, you go to deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, who Steve Benen flags explaining how great Trump has been for the U.S. image in the world:
“We are now respected, we are now feared, we are now loved because of this president. He has good relationships with our partners and allies. In fact, I would even argue they’re stronger.”
Respect AND fear AND love. An impressive feat, if it was remotely true. Benen cites two different international surveys showing quite the opposite on the respect and love fronts:
… earlier this year, Gallup published a report that found, “One year into Donald Trump’s presidency, the image of U.S. leadership is weaker worldwide than it was under his two predecessors.
What’s more, the Gallup report came on the heels of a separate study, published last year by the Pew Research Center, which also found that Trump’s presidency isn’t just unpopular around the globe, it’s also undermined international support for the United States.
It’s not just public opinion. The U.S. is being sidelined on policy issues and other countries are standing by agreements that Trump has undermined U.S. credibility by pulling out of.
Maybe one part of Gidley’s brag is true: thanks to Trump, the U.S. may be more feared than it had been in recent years—in the way that you fear a drunk driver will cause an accident. But with nuclear weapons.