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He has been very vocal about a "US-first", isolationist policy. You can't be the leader of the free world by saying "I only care about my country" and expect ot

He has been very vocal about a "US-first", isolationist policy. You can't be the leader of the free world by saying "I only care about my country" and expect others to follow you.

artificial 8y ago
Indeed, and requesting that countries part of NATO fulfill their voluntarily agreed to commitments shouldn't be considered outrageous.
- mrguyorama 8y ago
  If that was the only controversial thing he's done on the world stage, you might have a point
  - artificial 8y ago
    Why is it controversial?
rrggrr 8y ago
You simply cannot be leader of the free world if you are attempting to do such as a country in decline or ruin. The first order of business is to restore American economic strength. The world must wait.
ArchTypical 8y ago
> You can't be the leader of the free world by saying "I only care about my country" and expect others to follow you There's no evidence of that. The President is a citizen figurehead (with limited powers) which has to fight a monumentally massive bureaucracy made up of other branches and citizens. Trump is not a godhead or even going to be considered important in the long run (a generation+). Curb the sensationalism.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  True, many overstate the importance of the president. I think you understate his importance, though. His actions (and statements) have real-world consequences.
hajile 8y ago
"Leader of the Free World" always struck me as an odd term. Is the US the only free country? If not, then did other countries elect the US President? Isn't an un-elected leader a dictator? Wouldn't "Dictator of the Free World" imply that the Free World wasn't actually free? The logical assumption is that the US President is not in fact a leader of anything outside of the US and only the pride and arrogance of the citizenry would lead to that title. Alternatively, it could be true that the US President is indeed the dictator of the rest of the world, but then it would be more fitting to call him a dictator rather than some Americanized version of "Great Leader".

He has been very vocal about a "US-first", isolationist policy. You can't be the leader of the free world by saying "I only care about my country" and expect others to follow you.

artificial 8y ago

Indeed, and requesting that countries part of NATO fulfill their voluntarily agreed to commitments shouldn't be considered outrageous.

mrguyorama 8y ago
If that was the only controversial thing he's done on the world stage, you might have a point
- artificial 8y ago
  Why is it controversial?

rrggrr 8y ago

You simply cannot be leader of the free world if you are attempting to do such as a country in decline or ruin. The first order of business is to restore American economic strength. The world must wait.

ArchTypical 8y ago

> You can't be the leader of the free world by saying "I only care about my country" and expect others to follow you There's no evidence of that. The President is a citizen figurehead (with limited powers) which has to fight a monumentally massive bureaucracy made up of other branches and citizens. Trump is not a godhead or even going to be considered important in the long run (a generation+). Curb the sensationalism.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
True, many overstate the importance of the president. I think you understate his importance, though. His actions (and statements) have real-world consequences.

hajile 8y ago

"Leader of the Free World" always struck me as an odd term. Is the US the only free country? If not, then did other countries elect the US President? Isn't an un-elected leader a dictator? Wouldn't "Dictator of the Free World" imply that the Free World wasn't actually free? The logical assumption is that the US President is not in fact a leader of anything outside of the US and only the pride and arrogance of the citizenry would lead to that title. Alternatively, it could be true that the US President is indeed the dictator of the rest of the world, but then it would be more fitting to call him a dictator rather than some Americanized version of "Great Leader".