Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the only limitation on his power is 'my own morality, my own reason.' As foreign policy commentator for The Guardian Simon Tisdall writes, this explains a lot.
"His understanding of good and evil is entirely subjective. He is his own ethical and legal advisor, his own priest and confessor. He is a church for one. Trump lies to himself and everyone else. And the harm from this is devastating. It costs lives, undermines democracy, and destroys trust between nations," emphasized the expert.
According to the commentator, American voters and foreign leaders have become accustomed to Trump's chronic dishonesty, but the price for not exposing him and not taking a clear stance is growing exponentially, as the behavior of the U.S. president becomes increasingly dictatorial and unpredictable.
"Trump's lies and deceit are a common aggravating factor in three intractable modern international crises. For example, he falsely claims that Chinese and Russian military ships are 'everywhere' in Greenland, which requires its capture by the U.S. 'Hey! What ships?' asks Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who, unlike the imperial builder from Washington, has direct insight into the self-governing island. Greenlanders dismiss Trump's comments as nonsense," added Tisdall.
In Denmark, they emphasize that they spend billions on Greenland and that the alleged huge Chinese investments are yet another fabrication of the White House.
"Polls show that Greenlanders are against annexation or selling to Trump. They prefer independence, which, as one might expect, the U.S. should understand, as they celebrate 250 years since the expulsion of King George III. Trump says he wants to ensure Greenland's security. In reality, he wants to secure its mineral wealth - and make America great again," explained the author of the publication.
As for Venezuela, the commentator states that another lie from Trump is his claim that he has a 'plan' to manage the country indefinitely.
"With its armed forces and militia remaining intact, with Maduro's repressive regime still in power, and with the democratic opposition that has gathered courage and is determined to seize power, the country is heading towards a decisive confrontation. Only deeper and prolonged U.S. military intervention, which Trump is playing with, can stop the slide into chaos. He risks creating a Balkan quagmire on Washington's doorstep in Latin America," warned the commentator.
Tisdall also mentioned Ukraine, where Trump's inability to distinguish between good and evil, truth and lies, is causing immense harm. In particular, the U.S. president lied that he could easily end the war with Russia in 24 hours.
"Faced with failure, he has repeatedly promised to be tough on Vladimir Putin. Time and again, this smiling villain - another habitual liar - has deftly played along with him and then resumed bombings. Time and again, Trump weakly retreats, usually blaming the impeccable leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky," added the author of the publication.
According to the expert, such ambiguity from Trump undermines the efforts of allies aimed at supporting Ukraine. In particular, last week the American leader stated that NATO would not help the U.S. in an emergency. However, as Tisdall noted, this is yet another lie, as it was indeed the alliance that did so after the September 11 attacks and during 20 years of mistakes in Afghanistan.
"Today's simultaneous crises - in Greenland, Venezuela, and Ukraine - have other common factors besides Trump's dishonesty. In all three cases, the weakness and divisions of European leaders, as well as the EU as an institution, have been exposed in a troubling light. Certainly, Europe must finally recognize that it cannot trust this president and rely on him. In this complex geopolitical context, Brexit no longer looks like just a foolish mistake. It looks almost like suicide," emphasized the analyst.
The commentator noted that Americans and their 'timid' friends in the UK and Europe need to be more decisive in expressing the truth to the authorities before, like George III, Trump 'does something truly insane.'
