Steve Benen worries about the long-term consequences of the Trump Presidency for the American reputation:
As we discussed last summer, after Trump announced his rejection of the Paris climate accords, this presidency will end, perhaps in three years, at which point many Americans and their new president will turn to the world and declare with pride, “Don’t worry, Trump is gone. The fluke is over. You can trust us again. The United States is back and the American president can lead the free world anew.”
But at that point, many around the world will probably choose not to listen. They’ll realize that the United States is capable of electing someone like Trump to the nation’s highest office, and there’s no guarantee that Americans won’t make a similar decision again in the future. People around the globe will have no way of knowing when the electorate might elect someone else of Trump’s ilk.
And with that lack of confidence comes consequences.
When Trump’s successors, for example, try to reach international agreements, and make promises to our partners about the United States honoring its commitments, foreign officials will know that a Trump-like figure might come along, take office, and decide to betray those commitments.
And I think it’s true, but I don’t necessarily agree that this is a real problem for the world. From that perspective, having a single nation wielding that much influence is not necessarily a good thing, because, of course, it will order things behind the scenes to enhance its prosperity, and that can unduly impact other nations.
My real concern, as I may have mentioned elsewhere, is the blot the Trump Presidency leaves on the concept and theory of liberal democracy. For nations of any size greater than a few villages, finding a way to govern everyone in a stable manner without violence is a major challenge, and if the lesson drawn from Trump is that liberal democracies can elect freaking nut-cases that can severely damage a country in terms of domestic and foreign policy, well, that’s not good.
Will countries choose to return to the “strong man” model of government, as has Russia?
