President Donald Trump in Dearborn, Michigan, January 13, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump has been reduced to a "laughingstock" on the world stage, according to The New Republic, and it is only going to make him more dangerous.
Writing for the outlet on Tuesday, Brynn Tannehill wrote that Trump has attempted to govern via the Machiavellian principle that "it is safer to be feared than loved" throughout his second term. For the most part, it has worked out for him domestically.
"Donald Trump has had success with this model inside the United States, to be sure," Tannehill wrote. "He is loved by a few, hated by many, and feared by all. Institutions routinely cave routinely cave to his demands, including individuals, corporations, law firms, hospitals, and universities, even when those demands violate state or federal law. The Republican Party has become the Party of Trump, where the organizational platform is whatever Trump says it is today. Indeed, Republicans are so afraid of Trump that they have all united around unrealities, like January 6 being a peaceful protest."
Outside the U.S. is a much different story. Tannehill argued that Trump "does not have such leverage over people living in other countries, or their leaders," and is both widely hated and dismissed as a "fool."
"He is widely despised in educated, democratic countries, which even a year ago had no confidence in his leadership," Tannehill continued. "Today, most people of the world express significantly higher approval of China’s despotic, genocidal regime than they do of U.S. leadership."
She continued: "Behind Trump’s back, world leaders reportedly consider him a 'laughing fool' and a buffoon. They even were caught sniggering at him in 2018. Reports indicate that many foreign leaders and diplomats view him as vain, susceptible to flattery, and easy to manipulate. This perception has led to a strategic, often performative, approach by world leaders to manage his transactional style of diplomacy, sometimes referred to as 'kissing the ring' or 'Trump Management 101.'”
Trump has even soured the countries that once viewed him as a valuable ally, or at least an asset. Countries like Russia, for instance, foresee the GOP taking a "drubbing" in the 2026 midterms, drastically reducing the power that Trump will be able to wield.
As a result of this situation, Tannehill warned that Trump might be pushed into doing something "monstrous" if he cannot spin his way out of the Iran war.
"No one outside the U.S. seems to be afraid of Trump anymore, and he is hated rather than loved," she concluded. "These key factors will drive the ongoing Iranian crises, and are the driving force leaving Trump with the options of accepting Iranian terms and trying to spin it as a win, or getting pushed far enough into a corner that he decides to do something monstrous enough to make himself truly feared."
