Souring World Views of Trump Open Doors for China and Russia

I am a frequent international traveler. A few months ago I made the (hard) decision to tell people I meet in my travels that I live in Canada. I couldn't take it any longer when I would tell someone I live in America and then wait for their "so sorry to hear that"comments.

The USA has become "Fly Over" country for most of the rest of the world. Putin is laughing and China is forging ahead with it`s Belt & Road program across Asia to Europe. America , what have you done yourself ! Are you really NOT better than Trump and his GOP abettors ? You do not understand that universal healthcare for your citizens is like "Quality". It does not cost it pays for itself in a more productive society. Your education system is rated in the 13-20th rank vs other developed nations and will be worse when Sec. of Ed. De Vos is done with it. Trump is unwelcome in the UK and many other places. He is the personification of the Ugly American that organizations like the US Red Cross have been able to show is only a facet of the nation. OMG , I miss Obama.

I really doubt that the world is looking forward to the “assertion” of China, Russia, or Germany on the international stage: East Asia, eastern Europe, and southern Europe certainly aren’t.

30 percent approval rating, that's quit impressive given the damage Donald Trump has done to America and the world at large. Perhaps we are all getting tried of Mr. Trump's version of "winning."

Doubts about American commitment? The world community more likely fears American commitment.

It might be a good idea to let some country other than the USA to try to fix the Israeli-Palestinian issues or deter Russian military aggression. Let's see what happens

For all those pro Trump letter writers in today's op ed, does this not matter at all?

I'm surprised that the approval rating averages as high as 30%. I expect it to have dropped in the wake of his recent s*hole assessment of large portions of the world and that it will continue to fall as he isolates himself and his base further, as he does daily, from the rest of humankind. In my recent travels abroad, when I admitted that I was from the US, people looked at me with a mixture of pity and horror. That's exactly how I feel.

Trump never looks so silly as when he's trying to look serious. It's like watching a child wearing their parents' clothes, stomping around acting like it's time for them to go to work, muttering gibberish into a toy phone in an infantile imitation of adult activity. The majority of the world is correct not to respect Trump. The title of POTUS and the sheer size of the U.S. may get Trump in the door, but really, why should they respect Trump, the MAN? He has no experience, no expertise, no relevant knowledge and, quite frankly, probably posses a worse command of any given policy than a random person one might pull off the street. Even Trump's own people doubt his ability to grasp complex issues (including, of late, Trump's own chief of staff). Of course, this not to mention the juvenile, never-ending barrage of insults coming out of the White House, treating allies as if they are tenants delinquent on their rent and Trump's demonstrable willingness to turn on even his ostensible friends whenever it suits his purpose.

The really terrible, horrible thing to note: 30% APPROVE of Trump! Just like the USA. Go figure.

...and of that 30%, many are undoubtedly ISIS, Taliban, North Korean, Cubans, and Venezuelans - all of whom hope for implosion of our government. Who needs terrorists when we have Trump?

The political world abhors a vacuum, and that's what the administration of Don the Con has given us. But the question is, did he deliberately create a situation to damage America's influence, doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin, or is America's diminished international presence just one consequence of our narcissistic president and his ignorant base?

Highest presidential approval rating in history!!

Some decisions are just plain wrong, which "makes them difficult". At least the foreigners "are not laughing at us". (not)

With Trump’s euphoria about the US stock market, let’s not forget the US Dollar has lost 20% of its value compared to the Euro, British pound and Japanese Yen - all of which have their own challenges, yet the financial markets rate their currency stronger than the dollar. Could that situation be related to perception of Trump’s leadership?

Not a surprise, why would the world view be any better than the American people's view of our leadership.

Donald Trump is the best thing that happened in recent memory. To China.

Why would I look to China or Russia to replace the democratic leadership greedy America sold off?

No surprise here. Many Americans have a lower opinion of Trump than our overseas allies. The only ones who really love Trump are our enemies. Duh. Pay attention GOP. If Russia and China love him more than NATO countries maye that's a hint that something is not right.

How could any other country look at Donald Trump, know he didn't have the majority of the votes, and feel respect for our country? Our system is so corrupted that even a majority of people wanting change doesn't turn things around. The majority doesn't rule. Who's going to respect that?

How will the nations of the world, especially our allies, ever trust us again? We have insulted, betrayed, broken promises to many countries. Even if we rid ourselves of this pestilential administration, what’s to say it can’t happen again. We put these vicious “leaders” into place once. Who can trust America, once leader of the free world, not to do it again?

What is wrong with the people who make up the thirty per cent? I do not understand anyone trusting Trump or respecting his so-called leadership, least of all, citizens of other countries.

For those countries concerned, there are two other choices to pony up to. China and Russia .

Every great society has its Nero, its downfall. Ours has come.

"The survey conflicts with Mr. Trump’s oft-stated assertion that the world is respecting the United States more under his leadership."... of course he makes this claim- he's delusional.

Is anyone surprised? If you polled Americans there'd be a drop in confidence in American leadership. The GOP isn't trying to govern for an entire country; they can't even govern for the minority of voters that gave them majority representation at every level of the government.

According to Gallup's managing partner, Trump would say "these results are understandable because we're making tough decisions." Really? Clearly, sir, you know nothing about Trump. Trump would say, "I'm the greatest poll subject ever. No one gets as good marks as I do in every poll. People say they've never seen a poll subject as good as me. No president has every had scores as great as mine." Then, someone would try to explain the poll to him (not his staff, of course; they would be busy agreeing with Trump's great statements). He would scowl a bit, and say "Fake news. Failing media. Haters. Losers." Then, he'd smile and say "The world is better than it ever was in history because of what I've done as president. The world loves me." Gallup, pay a little attention, please.

Maybe this isn't such a bad thing, maybe humanity will be better served by the strengthening of Russia and China, and the weakening of America. Democracy was a very nice idea, but like Communism, maybe it just doesn't work with humans. Obviously, about 30% of everybody is just mind-bogglingly unintelligent. Most of humanity believes in anachronistic, illogical superstitions. And as the election of Trump demonstrates, people cannot be counted on to choose wisely or to know what's going on in the world. So I hate to say this, but maybe brutal dictatorship is what humanity needs. Maybe most people just need to be suppressed, and it's clear that a lot of people would choose that (the Trump election again). Back in 2015 I would never have thought such things, but since mid-2016 I've lost a lot of faith in humanity, and as Trump goes on and his ludicrously dumb supporters continue to believe in him, I think embracing the grim cynicism about humanity's lack of worth might be the right way to go.

Sadly, neither Donald Trump, or his base, could care less about the opinion the rest of the world has about America. In fact, quite the opposite.

Guess what? All too often the opinion of a leader from outside their country is in direct opposition to the feelings of citizens governed by that person. It is not truly relevant.

Frankly I'm surprised it's not even lower. He is clearly unfit for the job, has no command of the intricacies of foreign relations, has no qualms about tossing around insults and frankly is a daily embarrassment.

Good. It is well over-due to fight back. Let the world feel what it is like when their allowance is reduced or removed. It we are lucky, they will run away back to home.

Maybe the baseball caps should say Make America Last.

So reality is the opposite of what Donald "Stable Genius" Trump is saying? Well, that's a first.

My question is at what point does the growing extremely strong anti-Trump sentiment become anti-american. The reality is, not long. Anti-Trump has moved quickly outside of America to anti-Republican already. I can only come to the conclusion that Trump and the increasing number of religious and racists extremists in the Republican party are doing this intentionally. So who benefits...every authoritarian in the world, and American extremists. American needs to make a decision do you want to be the leader of the Free World, or just another Putin like country with the illusion of democracy and freedom. Time is running out, soon others will make the decision for all Americans...the same people and their propaganda machine (Fox fake News) who hide behind freedom of speech are the first ones who will take that freedom away if they have even a remote chance.

The sad part is Trump probably doesn't care what the world thinks of the US because he supposed only has to "make America great again". This insular attitude is allowing smarter countries like China and Russia take advantage of this ignorance. The weak offense against "globalists" is setting America back.

Donald Trump has not asked for nor required help from any foreign nation so far in his Presidency. What will happen when we do need cooperation? As with another huge financial crisis? Or new war somewhere? We'll go it alone, I suppose. We did just that — for all practical purposes — in the Iraq War, and that has worked out well!, hasn't it?!?!? Prediction: Donald Trump and his band of extremist advisors will get us into more giant messes, domestically and internationally, as did George W. Bush. Then a Democrat will need to come in and clean things up. It took Barack Obama 8 years to do so.

With ignorance and arrogance, the Republican Party and it's leadership ideologues have crushed the US's position in the world's eyes. Well done swamp people -- in just one year, you have destroyed the US reputation. Vote these people out of office asap (2018).

You don't suppose the tone of US media coverage could have set the tone of foreign press and their readership, do you ?

Obviously, this is fake news. Everyone loves Donald. Especially Donald. Thanks, GOP. November.

Great! More potential voters to bring their drugs, rob convenience stores, vote Democratic several times, and then run back across the border/ocean/whatever.

Trump's 30% Approval is a new low for American leaders. W, in his absolutely disastrous final year that triggered the global meltdown after burning every bridge with his hegemonic abuse towards regime change in Iraq, STILL managed to get 34% of global approval. What's even more shocking in this poll: DISapproval is at a record HIGH at 43%, eclipsing our greatest adversaries -- 7 points worse than Putin's Russia (36%) and 13 points beyond disapproval for China. And things will get worse as Trump pretends to "save money" by continuing to pull our involvement, investments and influence in every continent. He claims he'll negotiate new trade deals with individual countries, but every day he has less and less leverage. The only smart thing he can do at this point -- besides resign and let someone more capable and responsible take over -- is to break yet another campaign promise and keep NAFTA. Even if it's as bad a deal as he claims, it is still better than the nothing he replaced the TPP with.

I think the majority of people all over the world have long had a keen dislike for the U.S. government long before Mr. Trump became president.

Here's the classic difference between contemporary liberals and conservatives. If it's your view that you can achieve your foreign goals simply by intimidating or frightening foreigners into following your lead, this doesn't matter. However, if you think an element of consensus-building around shared interests is helpful in achieving foreign policy goals, this becomes far more difficult if foreign leaders must buck massive public opinion headwinds to work with you. Of course, both sides can interpret the evidence as they may. But the experience of the Bush administration's aggressive unilateralism in Iraq does suggest that there are limits to the effectiveness of a go-it-alone policy. It also suggests that, sometimes, American conservative presidents don't understand long-term American interests as well as their allies' leaders do. Just maybe it doesn't hurt to listen every once in awhile.

The old saying, respect must be earned, so true. He shows NO RESPECT for our country, our military, our women, anyone or anything. There is a thing called DIPLOMACY and TACT, which he has neither. At least when he was on his own show, we could mute, change the channel, and it really didn't affect anyone, anywhere. These are sad times, and with a leader that doesn't really care about doing the right thing.

This is no surprise. Trump has shown nothing but disdain for democracy, decency, diplomacy and the US is losing it's moral and economic leadership. Hopefully, the next president will be able to right the ship. Whoever she may be, my hope and prays are with her.

I dont think this is a bad thing. All nations are looking out for their own interests. They can not have their way against the US and rip us off. The only exception is Isarel. They seem to have our number.

We cannot stand alone in this world. Our leadership in the past has worked to keep us engaged and in position to lead so that we can benefit from our position. This has always been a sophisticated and terribly complicated effort that relied on diplomacy and support for those countries who have relied on us to help maintain a safe and prosperous existence. Have we been perfect? No, but the good gains we have established is being thrown away without any regard for the consequences. It is easy to destroy trust, it takes a huge effort to maintain it and even more to get it back once you lose it. He is not only hurting this country, he is changing the world in ways that do not bode well for ours, or any other Democratic based country that WERE our allies. We maintained a position of dominance and strength through diplomacy, strength of our convictions and an example of humanitarian beliefs. We are now seen as having no interest in anyone but ourselves and willing to leverage our influence in the worst ways to resolve issues. I understand an attraction to a "tell it like it is" approach but in this case, that approach is not being used with any sophistication or integrity. We can no longer be trusted to stand by our principles. Our current political situation has thrown back the curtain on our Republican leaderships blatant use of lies and manipulation to gain power and provided the opportunity for the unprecedented Oval Office occupant to be a "Thug in Chief". We are lost. VOTE.

This is terrible news. I hope these countries are not going to return our foreign aid checks. I hope NATO is not going to demand that we denounce Article 5 so they can go it alone against Putin. I hope all of those countries with their huge trade balances are not going to refuse to trade their shoddy goods for our treasure. I hope all of those overstaying their visas don't pack up and go home. I hope they don't move the UN to a progressive country. I hope they don't demand we bring our troops home. Yes, this is terrible news. Darn you, Trump. You're spoiling everything.

Trump is the "Presidential" equivalent of a 1980's corporate raider. The strategy is to seize control, sell off capital assets, decimate the employee ranks, and squander the entity's carefully nurtured reputation and brand, all in pursuit of short-term gains in the quarterly reports. The short term gains yield nice profits for the corporate shareholders who backed the raider's assault. They can then sell their stocks before the now maimed entity staggers off into to heal or die. Who are Trump's shareholder patrons? Mueller may find the truth; but will the nation have the will and strength to act on that information?

Wake up America! This guy hasn't a clue what he's doing and what he's doing is selling the USA down the river. We are no longer respected as the world leader as we once were. Other countries are quickly jumping in to take over Trump is a joke at best and a disaster at worst.

The US has always been the world's bogeyman and I can't recall a time when we were "liked" by most of the world. If they want to like Russia or China more than the US, then they aren't logical anyway and I don't care about their opinion.

I always expected an end to US hegemony. But I expected it to happen over decades, not months.

The problem the US faces is a President that believes he alone is the only one that can negotiate a good deal and anything negotiated by another President, especially Obama, is a "terrible deal for the United States". We, as a country, are going to wake up one day and see that this thin skinned egotistical President has done a fantastic job at isolating the US and relegating the country to a backseat in world leadership. Most likely his bilateral deals will result in higher costs for the US. One has to ask, what incentive does a country have to negotiate bilaterally with the US when they can do resolve through multilateral agreements.

I suspect most Lazy-Boy Recliner cowboys who voted for Trump don't own passports and disdain all things foreign - especially foreign sentiment about Trump. Inevitably, the US as a whole will end up paying the price for the insularity of a few.

''with 41 percent approval, Germany has replacd the United States as the top rated-global power'' BUT Germany hasn't replaced New York or California and Germany will never ever be able to replace New York or Callifornia - and I say that as a German-New Yorker-Californian!!