Laughing stock

I know that not a huge proportion of Americans know what is going on beyond the borders of the US, and this was brought home to me recently, when I was reading something about the massive No Kings protests in myriad cities and town across the US. One source I read estimated that about 13 million people demonstrated. All this happened while Trump held his military parade in honour of his own birthday, at which something like a few thousand people showed up to watch, some of whom were even there to protest against Trump, or at least to separate the 250^th anniversary of the army’s creation from Trump’s 79^th birthday. The total number of attendees was about 3% of the expected crowd. One of the items I read seemed to be unsure of how Trump is viewed beyond the US. It is difficult to know where to start to try to explain the disdain with which almost all people I know view him, but I’ll try.

For starters: He is unable to string coherent sentences together; he is inarticulate; his comprehension is limited; he lies constantly; his social media output is what one would expect from a child; he surrounds himself with like-minded spivs; he profits from his position; his pathetic vanity is worse than I have ever seen from any other politician; he is ignorant of history; he is ignorant of economics; he is ignorant of governance; he doesn’t know how ignorant he is, which is astonishing in its breadth; he is an adjudicated rapist, and probably a paedophile; he is a convicted fraud; he vehemently hates people; he holds grudges seemingly in perpetuity; he mocks the disabled; he is a racist; he is a homophobe; he is a misogynist; he values personal loyalty above competence; his narcissism allows him to tear children away from their parents if it suits him politically; he is deeply stupid; he seems to take pleasure in making people suffer; he blames others for his shortcomings and errors; he has used similar techniques to the German Nazi party in trying to gain power; he supported an insurrection to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and pardoned the insurrectionists.

Trump has made the US a laughing stock around the world, not least in Australia. The disdain with which he is viewed here, is perhaps demonstrated by the result of the May 2025 federal election. As soon as the local conservative party (ironically named Liberal Party) adopted some Trumpian talking points and terminology, they condemned themselves to one of the biggest electoral losses in their 80-year history, such that many of its members are wondering about its viability. That indicates what many Australians think of Trump. He is perceived as laughably incompetent, and susceptible to manipulation using simple flattery by malevolent bastards such as Putin and Netanyahu. Most people I know shake their heads in disbelief that he could ever be elected to any position of power, let alone twice.