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How Europe views raving lunatic in the White House

US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Air Force One at Andrews Airforce Base, Maryland on January 17, 2020. Trump is traveling to Palm Beach, Florida. (AFP photo)

By Myles Hoenig

If your child is a terror at home, monster at school, and bully in the neighborhood, you still give him or her all the love and care you could possibly give. But there’s always a breaking point where “tough love” is necessary. The parents may put him or her out when he or she is old enough to care for himself and put some distance between them; always caring but realizing that for such a long time they were actually enabling the child, rather than seeking serious help.

This is how Europe views US President Donald Trump. It no longer matters that he’s the President of the United States. All pomp and circumstance, protocol, deference is about to go out the window. They are dealing with an extremely disturbed and damaged “adult” who happens to have his finger on the nuclear button and all fear that he would use it at the merest slight against him. And with his own government trying to remove him from office, they feel they’re in good company, although it has been they all along who have seen how much of a buffoon and bully he has been.

One could argue that his positions are debatable, arguable. Tearing up NAFTA and the TPP was praised by many progressive elements in the US, especially Labor and environmentalists. But most other agreements and treaties with the US’s allies and adversaries were viewed by many as carefully crafted, taking in much considerations. The obvious problem is not whether abandoning any of these other agreements is good or bad, but that he did it unilaterally and without much strategic thinking. This is the justification for Europe to go its own way now that the US has finally given them the green light to do so.

Past presidents have made decisions that have offended their allies. Always supporting Israel in the Security Council when all others have not is one example. France would not join the “Coalition of the Bribed” when it invaded Iraq under George HW Bush. Under Obama it stood alone and in opposition when the nations of the world signed treaties outlawing certain anti-personnel land mines.

The only true difference is a matter of personality. When you have a stark raving lunatic in the White House, your best bet is to keep away from the loaded gun.

Myles Hoenig is a veteran educator who has worked for social and political change since the early 1970s. He is a former candidate and campaign manager for the Green Party for local, state and federal offices.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)


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