Increasingly unpopular at home, a president obsessed by his legacy has turned his scattergun on the world stage
O
ne year into the second Trump administration, an actual US foreign policy remains just a nice idea. Instead, the world has been forced to adapt to the world according to Donald Trump: one increasingly shaped by his erratic shifts and unpredictable decisions, his fury at perceived slights and his growing desire to stamp his legacy in the model of an imperial leader from centuries past.
Think of it as the mad king’s court, where every day is a carnival.
Consider the last few days. Trump texted the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, at the weekend to tell him that because he had not been awarded the Nobel peace prize “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.” The world would not be secure “unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”, he wrote.
