I was browsing on my social media this morning and came across a very interesting graphic. that gives a general impression of the popularity of Trump in Europe and this must be juxta-positioned against his claim, frequently repeated, that he had won back the respect of the world for America. So let's start by looking at the graphic itself.

Donald Trump's Popularity Rating in Europe. A positive number represents popularity and the bigger the number the more popular he is. Conversely a negative number represents unpopularity and the bigger the negative number the more unpopular he is.

It is important before I go any further for me to categorically state that I have not verified the numbers, nor looked at the method for creating the data. Likewise we must always remember that social media is... well social media is social media - enough said! On the whole though the numbers do seem to ring true, with just a few surprises.

• Spain's rating at -51 is actually better than expected, given the way he has singled out Spain in particular in recent months 
• I would also have expected the UK to be higher too simply because we understand him directly through the use of English completely with all of its nuances. For example, his recent use of the word "terror" when referring to what he will do with Iran unless they make his peace.
• I am slightly surprised by the unpopularity in the Republic of Ireland and can offer no explanation.

There are some other more obvious ones.

• The popularity in Kosovo makes perfect sense as the majority ethnic-Albanian population see Nato (and in particular the US) as their liberators. The remaining Serbs almost certainly don't see it the same way.
• Macedonia is probably leaning in the same direction for similar reasons after Nato's intervention during the short lived civil war there in 2001. (I am actually preparing an article on that for later in the week).
• Poland, at the front line with a potential war with Russia and the Baltics are feeling particularly vulnerable with the rest of Nato being less than sure that they can rely on American support.
• Italy is no surprise given the recent disrespect Trump has shown.
• ... and as for Denmark - well he threatened to invade and take Greenland, autonomous but under Danish sovereignty 

So there is little wonder when he spends years threatening and insulting his Nato allies and going as far as threatening a fellow Nato member (and especially when Greenland have - probably had - a very open position to Americans placing bases or whatever else they needed there). He told us that we hid behind the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan while American soldiers died then as his piece de la resistance he unilaterally attacked Iran while saying he didn't need help, then he asked for help and berated his allies for not joining him on his foolish adventure that runs contrary to the defensive principles that lie behind the whole purpose of Nato. I even saw one (presumably US idiot) on Quora write that NATO stands for North American Treaty Obligations! - meaning that all of Nato are vassals of the US. Wake up! The one thing that Trump's barmy adventures have done is justified Putin's thinking that Nato (and its expansion) is an existential threat to Russia. I am obviously not a fan of Putin, but on this point Trump has handed him at the very least a propaganda victory and genuine grounds to fear a more aggressive Nato.

Putin is a lot of things including smart, Trump lacks any capacity or capability to do anything well other than... to satisfy his MAGA cult members.

And on that I think I have said enough for now.

As always stay safe and well my friends