Idiot Abroad

Donald Trump always brags about he big crowds he attracts.  Well, by the criterion of bringing out his detractors, his European trip has been a bug success.

I will give Trump credit for his handling of American allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as he has successfully re-affirmed the NATO alliance in a statement guaranteeing active American participation in the treaty despite his earlier threats to pull out of it.  Wait!  Correction: That was a bipartisan resolution that passed the Senate before he even made it to Brussels.  But his classiest coup was getting the European allies to agree to increase defense spending.  Oops!  Correction: They agreed to do that in 2006.  And his attempt to involved himself in British politics over who should be prime minister and handle the British withdrawal from the European Union only serves to remind us why so many Britons publicly supported Hillary for President in 2016. 

And then, with European politics in turmoil as a result of his doing, Trump went off to Scotland to play golf. Because he doesn't know how to play the fiddle.

In between insulting Queen Elizabeth II - something even Martin O'Malley, an Irish Catholic, wouldn't have done - and criticizing the abilities of European leaders with two X chromosomes (May, Merkel), Trump has managed to have a pretty good time on our tax dollars, visiting historic European capitals most of us will never get to see because we can't afford to, and now he meets with Putin just as an indictment from Robert Mueller's special investigation has fingered twelve Russian military intelligence officers for trying to hack into voter registration systems.  Democrats - still attempting to recover from Whig-like irrelevance - have asked Trump to call off tomorrow's meeting with the Russian leader, or at least ask him about this charge from the special prosecutor's office.

What do you think he'll do?

There is nothing scarier than to have such a diplomatically challenged xenophobe whose massive ego does not comport with his abilities as President of the United States.  More than hip-hop, sport utility vehicles, or adulterated food - more than anything with the exception of our gun culture - nothing these days is a greater embarrassment to these United States than Donald J. Trump.