Dealing with the madman in the White House unites the world

The unhinged decisions by the increasingly irrational U.S. President are having surprising global consequences, as Alan Austin reports.

THE PEOPLE OF BRAZIL were astonished last Thursday when official correspondence from the U.S. Government imposed punitive tariffs of 50 per cent.

While laughable in its poor grammar and capitalisation, the childish letter threatened citizens in both the USA and Brazil. In clear violation of the rules of international commerce, it claimed that Brazil was targeted because its Supreme ourt is hearing charges against President Trump’s buddy, the corrupt former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The letter prompted derision by many, but stern rejection by others. Former Foreign Affairs Minister Aloysio Nunes saw it as “coisa de gângster” – a gangster act – and urged Brazil to tell Trump to “lamber sabão” — eat soap.

Two daily newspapers in Belgium – Sudpresse and La Dernière Heure – openly canvassed the question: Is Donald Trump crazy?

JOHN SCHUMANN: Dear Democrats, if you don’t fight, you lose

In the face of President Trump’s rising authoritarianism, the Democrats are dithering and history won’t forgive hesitation.

Sudpresse interviewed Professor of Political Psychology at the University of Louvain, Stephan Van den Broucke, who answered “Yes”:

“Few economists will tell you his decisions make sense... Describing countries as ‘kissing his ass’ to ridicule those trying to negotiate tariffs demonstrates an underdeveloped personality.”

In France, L’Express ran an analysis by an academic who concluded, “Donald Trump est aussi idiot que malheureux” (“Trump is as stupid as he is unhappy”).

Expressions of alarm at American institutions failing to replace the incapacitated President have been published in India, Germany, Norway, Australia, Britain, Liberia, Russia, the USA and elsewhere.

Evidence of severe dysfunction

Recent erratic decisions highlighting Trump’s mental decline include:

threatening to remove citizenship from people he doesn’t like;
a letter beginning ‘Dear Mr President’ sent to the leader of Bosnia Herzegovina, who is a woman and not a president;
congratulating President Boakai of Liberia for his “beautiful English”, unaware that Liberia is anglophone;
announcing brutal Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts fights will be staged at the White House;
launching bizarre legal action against California over women in sport;
boasting petrol cost US$1.99 (AU$3.02) a gallon when the lowest was US$2.31 (AU$3.51) and the average US$3.16 (AU$4.80);
imposing destructive tariffs on trading partners worldwide, except Russia;
announcing last Wednesday morning that undocumented farm workers would be exempt from deportations, then reversing his decision in the afternoon;
threatening to take over New York City if endorsed Democrat Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor;
claiming that releasing the Epstein files – arguably the main reason Trump was elected – was of no interest to anyone;
signing a bill which cuts US$930 billion (AU$1.4 trillion) from Medicaid, risking the health of 11.8 million Americans; and
agreeing to deepen federal debt by US$3.4 trillion (AU$5.17 trillion).

Normalising Trump is killing the media's credibility

Mainstream news media are failing to defend American democracy by constantly working to normalise President Trump’s nothing-like-normal behaviour.

Trump has shown no competence in managing and no coherent response when quizzed about:

who in his administration stopped military funding for Ukraine;
his chief border thug, Tom Homan, admitting arrests are now based on racial profiling;
reaching his 90-day deadline for getting 90 trade deals, with none done and only three started;
prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz exposing Attorney General Pam Bondi as lying about Jeffrey Epstein’s client list;
the worst measles outbreak in 33 years;
his principal associate, Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove – now nominated as a senior judge – urging his staff to defy court orders;
a federal district judge ruling against Trump’s unconstitutional executive order ending birthright citizenship; and
Houthi sailors from Yemen thumbing their noses at Trump’s much vaunted truce by sinking two ships in the Red Sea on Friday.

And all those were from just last week. We have insufficient space for all the stupidities from the week before.

Global cooperation to exclude the USA

One unintended consequence of Trump’s mental incapacitation and the refusal of Congress to impeach him is unprecedented collaboration between former rivals.

Japan, South Korea and China have entered into fresh trade alliances. China has removed tariffs from 53 African countries. Australia is negotiating new trade deals with India and the European Union.

Responding to Trump’s deranged rants against Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney calmly affirmed that his people “are making significant progress in building one Canadian economy” and noted they are now “strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world”.

Dealing with America's 'Toddler in Chief'

The world’s walking on eggshells around a toddler with nukes — maybe it’s time we stopped playing his game.

Albanese avoids Trump and wins on trade

Some very stupid “journalists” are trying to accuse Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of failing to secure a personal meeting with Trump.

In fact, Albo is one of the smart leaders along with India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, South Korea's Lee Jae Myung and New Zealand’s Christopher Luxon who are securing desired outcomes without suffering a direct encounter.

They and others prefer to avoid being berated like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy or humiliated like Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Ghazouni, or the simpering sycophancy of NATO’s Mark Rutte.

Australia is definitely winning. Exports to the U.S. in calendar 2024 were $23.8 billion, up from $16.2 billion in 2021, the Coalition’s last full year. So far this year, the value is $20.8 billion in just five months.

Exports to Canada for the first five months of this year are $1,544 million, the highest for the first five months of any year. That’s 39 per cent higher than the previous all-time high in 2023.

Exports to the UK this year have been $4,428 million, more than double the 2024 level and nearly triple 2023. Other destinations of boosted exports include Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Africa and Argentina.

We shall see how long Americans tolerate the madman. Perhaps the longer it takes, the better for global cooperation. Veremos. Vi får se. Θα δούμε. On verra bien. 我们将会看到。 Посмотрим. We shall see.