Pay no attention to the man in the Oval Office

April 18: On This Day In 2018

Liar-in-Chief: Over the centuries, the United States of America evolved into a moral and practical beacon which other countries held in awe. So our president has often been granted a degree of respect which is quite unusual in world affairs.  However, Trump cast aside decades of leadership when he took office and rendered himself practically a nobody on the world stage.

Within little more than a year, Trump had already exhausted the goodwill and credibility he was originally granted. And by OTDI 2018, Politico announced that the world had at last decided to ignore the ever-shifting statements of Donald Trump.

Pic: The LAMPNYC / flickr

Two days earlier, Trump had stunned leaders and markets worldwide by announcing that he might flip his position and join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) -- the signature Obama trade policy -- after all. (He had mocked it for years.)

Having the United States joining an 11-nation pact of allies who account for 13 percent of the global economy? That would be…downright sane!

But then just as quickly as it started, Trump said WAIT, no, never mind, not gonna happen.

When the American president signals a major national financial move like that, typically it impacts the stock markets. So Trump’s flirtation with TPP should have sent stocks soaring, and his reversal should have caused traders to Sell. Instead, we got…crickets. Nothing much happened either way. Nobody was moved any longer by what the U.S. president said. They had already learned to tune President Donald Trump out as being irrelevant.

America’s diminished standing: As Politico put it, Trump’s utterances are largely treated as “throwaway lines.” The one thing Trump seems to crave above all else is respect. So much for that, let alone for “awe.”

Dive Deeper

• Politico has the analysis of Trump’s diminished credibility

• For Reuters has coverage of Trump on TPP

Subscribe

Summary: Trump loses credibility from markets and world leaders