Trump turns defenses of America ‘into dust’ as he becomes ‘a source of global instability’
President Donald Trump is rebuilding a key international constituency: Anti-Americans, one columnist wrote Monday.
Adrian Woolridge, global business columnist for Bloomberg, noted that anti-American sentiment is en vogue as Trump alienates international leaders.
Woolridge cited the March YouGov poll showing positive sentiment toward the U.S. has fallen 28 points since Trump was elected, and the columnist expects these numbers to continue falling.
"Trump embodies everything critics of the US have always warned about, multiplied several times over. Yankee arrogance? He and Vance, in the Oval Office, shamelessly bullied the leader of a nation victimized by the Russian president’s aggression. Yankee imperialism? Trump bragged to a cheering Congress that he will take over Greenland 'one way or another.' Yankee incompetence? His tariffs are destabilizing global stock markets and downgrading his own economy," wrote Woolridge.
ALSO READ: GOP senators laugh off idea of Trump invading Greenland — but dodge serious questions
He noted that for centuries, the U.S. has aided anyone seeking to provide "stability and security" and to lead and spread democracy and "free-market capitalism."
"Those justifications are turning into dust," Woolridge wrote, lamenting that the U.S. is now the "source of global instability" with "erratic" swings.
"Under Trump, the US is groveling to the world’s biggest enemy of liberal democracy, Putin, and injecting massive instability into global markets," said Woolridge. If Trump continues on this path, the columnist predicted it'll only worsen for the U.S.
He also thinks that if Trump continues on his current course, anti-American sentiment will likely be "transformative" in Europe. Meanwhile, the columnist said, Trump's coattails will likely drag down populist politicians along with him.
Nigel Farage is one of the best examples, he said. The leader of Britain’s Reform Party is already pulling back on his attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a contentious Oval Office meeting. Now, Farage says Vice President J.D. Vance is "wrong, wrong, wrong" on British troops.
"Both the Labour and Conservative parties think Farage’s closeness to Trump could prove to be an electoral problem for Reform," he said.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on a huge down-swing, and analysts assumed that the Conservatives were headed for an October victory in the upcoming election. "That's no longer a foregone conclusion," wrote Woolridge.
"The genie of anti-Americanism is now not only out of the bottle but doing immense damage to the country’s long-term interests," he closed.
‘The worst performing stock’: Tesla drops to lowest level since election on Elon fears
Baird financial services analyst Ben Kallo warned that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's political antics could be destroying the valuation of his company.
During a Monday morning report, CNBC host Carl Quintanilla offered investors bad news about Tesla's stock value.
"Tesla posing its 7th straight week of declines," he announced. "It's longest losing streak on record. Shares are now trading at their lowest level since the election. It is the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 so far this year."
Kallo explained why the company was struggling.
"It's going to continue to perpetuate the narrative of Musk destroying demand out there," he told Quintanilla.
"Yeah, well, is that just noise and just a narrative, or is that actually observably happening right here?" Quintanilla asked.
"Well, I think that, you know, when people's cars are in jeopardy of being keyed or, you know, set on fire out there, even people that support Musk or are indifferent to Musk might think twice about buying a Tesla," Kallo said. "But I do think that with the production ramp impacting deliveries, that's the bigger thing that will continue that narrative of demand at risk."
ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight
"And so I think that we have at least a couple of months until we determine if he's attracting more buyers or losing more buyers, which I've seen the argument out there from my fellow analysts all over the place," he continued. "But there's a lot of uncertainty here."
"It's very plausible that demand is being destructed. I would say in Europe, even more plausible."
Columnist quits after Washington Post editor spikes op-ed criticizing Jeff Bezos’ changes
A longtime columnist is leaving the Washington Post after a clash with the newspaper's publisher over an op-ed she wrote criticizing owner Jeff Bezos' changes to the opinion pages.
Columnist and associate editor Ruth Marcus announced her departure Monday, saying she can no longer stay at the paper where she's worked for four decades after she said chief executive and publisher Will Lewis spiked her column that was critical of Bezos' mandate to the opinion section, reported NPR.
"Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable," Marcus wrote in her resignation letter.
More than 75,000 digital subscribers canceled within 48 hours after Bezos imposed the changes last month, and opinions editor David Shipley stepped down over the order.
ALSO READ: 'A lot of damage control' at the White House after Musk blow-up: MSNBC's Lemire
"Will's decision to not … run the column that I wrote respectfully dissenting from Jeff's edict – something that I have not experienced in almost two decades of column-writing –underscores that the traditional freedom of columnists to select the topics they wish to address and say what they think has been dangerously eroded," Marcus wrote.
Bezos blocked the newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, which caused 300,000 digital subscribers to cancel within days, and the Amazon executive has moved closer to Donald Trump since the election.
"I love the Post," Marcus wrote in her resignation letter. "It breaks my heart to conclude that I must leave. I have the deepest affection and admiration for my colleagues and will miss them every day. And I wish you both the best as you steer this storied and critical institution through troubled times."
