Donald Trump is using US power to insert himself into other countries’ affairs, treating them as vassals
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or decades, president after president has sought to rid the US of its image as a bullying, imperialistic nation. But with his blustering, often brutish behavior toward other countries, Donald Trump has rapidly revived that notion. Under Trump, the Ugly American is back.
Trump has done this by using US power in aggressive and arrogant ways – by attacking other countries’ policies and then threatening to punish them if they don’t bow to his demands. Trump is doing exactly what international law says national leaders shouldn’t be doing. He has repeatedly inserted himself into other countries’ affairs, browbeating their leaders, berating their policies and disrespecting their sovereignty. Too often, Trump treats other countries as vassals of the US (and of his ego).
The phrase “the Ugly American” was popularized by a 1958 novel with that title; it described the insensitivity and ineptness of US diplomats who often didn’t speak the language where they were stationed and rarely spoke to the people there. Over the years, that term was increasingly used to describe insensitive and arrogant US tourists and insensitive and arrogant US policies toward other nations.
