It’s not over yet. We still have a long way to go before Donald Trump is replaced but I’ve been thinking about the consequences of his presidency.

Of course the worst case scenario is that he will blow up the world. Second, I fear the movie “Terminator” was a forewarning. Barring these two outcomes, I think the next worst thing will be that no other country will trust us again, perhaps ever.

A survey in nine European countries shows rising distrust toward the United States under President Trump. Nearly 48% of Europeans see Trump as their enemy. These findings come as Europe faces insecurity from the war in Ukraine and ongoing fears about Russian aggression. This survey was taken BEFORE Trump attacked Iran.

Traditionally the US has given its word to aid our allies. NATO has been credited with holding off World War III but even that fail safe didn’t keep Russia from invading Ukraine. However, it was the best thing we’ve had to keep world peace. The other members of NATO essentially have looked to the US for support even though we were the only ones that have benefited from the charter when they came to our aid in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. The fact that the US was purported to be the strongest nation in the world was enough to deter the bad boys.

We have lost the respect of our former allies. We have become a joke. Trump is not respected by the leaders of countries like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, etc. Furthermore he has demonstrated to them that they cannot depend on us to keep our word. Even after he is gone, I doubt that they will trust the US to be reliable when we have a “regime change”. Every four years we have a presidential election. What is there to prevent us from electing a man just as bad or, heaven forbid, even worse than Trump?

Countries no longer share intelligence with us because they don’t trust him. He has played Monopoly with tariffs on the goods that we have come to depend on, imposing them with impunity upon almost every country on earth (except Russia), some that were uninhabited by people. He has threatened to just take Greenland and Canada. He kidnapped the president of Venezuela. Then out of the clear blue, he attacked Iran – no provocation, no stated reason or goals to be gained.

The leaders of countless countries that were formerly our friends have publicly stated their opinions on his actions and they’re not good. Allies that have heretofore stood with us to fight injustice are now banding together against us. President Pedro Sanchez of Spain posted on X, “Spain will not support those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.”

Michael McFaul, former US Ambassador to Russia, believes that, “In the future NATO may not exist because trust has been so broken by this president.” Furthermore he says that Vice President J. D. Vance campaigning for the re-election of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, close friend of Putin, “is driving the Europeans crazy.”

After Trump’s threat to decimate the Iranian civilization, Sue Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence stated, “The world learned that the leader of the free world, upon whom so much of the world order and world security has depended, is unreliable. And when a leader is unreliable, when our partners and allies and adversaries cannot count on us, then they have to make different decisions…[They] have learned that we have massive power militarily and that doesn’t yield outcome. They also understand that we’re not the best negotiators…The world has figured out that we are not who we were and they must make other plans. And while everyone will deal with us because we are rich and powerful and we have resources, it will be a transactional relationship that doesn’t give us the strength that we have benefited from and from which the world has benefited – at least for the past 70 some years.” Looking to the future, she added, “There is no putting that genie back into the bottle.”

Verna Caruso is a native of Muncy, who now resides in Williamsport. She is a former staff member at Inc. magazine and former Chair of the Lycoming County Democratic Committee.