While I enjoyed reading Simon Tisdall’s article (America must deal with Donald Trump, the first rogue president, 18 July), and I have no doubt that Trump favours perceived “strength” over weakness, I believe there is one aspect that has been ignored. Trump is chummy with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, but seemingly the only other successful relationship he has internationally is with Emmanuel Macron, president of a stable, democratic state.
On the other hand, Angela Merkel and Theresa May are endlessly undermined, disrespected or openly attacked, despite being heads of government in stable(ish), democratic states. So, is Trump’s foreign policy less love of power, more love of man? Or are men the only world leaders he considers truly powerful?
Angus Hamilton
London
• The emergence of international disorder predates the rogue presidency of Trump. Dare one mention Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, the death of a two-state solution and Syria, where the west helped prolong the jihadist insurgency against a secular regime?
Europeans slavishly adhered to a unipolar world. It was assumed Washington always knew best. Now they are increasingly confronted by unilateral US actions, such as its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement and its use of extraterritorial jurisdiction to punish banks and firms that do business with Iran. This should drive home to Brussels and London the perils of continuing with a unipolar world, especially one in which the hegemon is unduly influenced by Saudi Arabia and Israel.
It’s time to dethrone the dollar. Also, Europe needs to pick up the tab for a revamp of Nato so that it more faithfully reflects Europe’s interests.
Could it be that Russia’s real crime is its advocacy of a multipolar world?
Yugo Kovach
Winterborne Houghton, Dorset
• Barack Obama may hit out at “strongman” politics, and we can all share his dismay (Obama lecture gives coded verdict on his successor, 18 July). However, it is overwhelmingly likely that his failure, over eight years, to deliver significant improvement to the lives of ordinary Americans (after resoundingly offering them hope) is the main reason for Hillary Clinton’s defeat and the turbulence in US politics.
In this respect, his complaint of an “explosion in inequality” is deeply ironic. Many voters who supported him went on to vote for Trump in despair at the stagnation of their life prospects. In the UK, the failure of New Labour governments and the coalition were similarly contributory to the disastrous Brexit vote.
Attacking the “strongmen” is all very well, but it would be nice if some of the politicians involved in these failures would now acknowledge them.
Jeremy Cushing
Exeter
• Trump’s adulation of Putin and other dictators seems to us to reveal his desperate need for his father’s approval, as he’s still acting out his unresolved childhood distress as a classic case of unconscious repetition compulsion. The outrage of the wounded child leaves him living in terror of being destroyed – so everyone but his “father” becomes a potential foe or “loser”. His emotional disconnection helps explain his lack of capacity to empathise with loss and vulnerability, so it’s no wonder he’s at ease separating children from their parents.
The solution? Following Suzanne Moore’s astute article (Why does a Christian like Theresa May not stand up to Trump?, 17 July), we urge politicians and media to stop fawning and placating in the face of this rising fascist threat, and to stand together with us citizen protesters and call out these dangerous, angry child-men.
Dr Judith Maizels Neurosomatic therapist
Fiona Adamson Executive coach, psychotherapist and supervisor
• So Trump claims he “misspoke” (I misspoke, says Trump, as he struggles to calm row over Putin summit debacle, 18 July). At best an unlikely Freudian slip; at worst – and far more likely – yet another example of his dangerous naivety and self-serving sycophancy. I wonder if one day he will “mispress” the nuclear button.
Hilary Veale
Weymouth, Dorset
• Simon Tisdall hits most of the nails on the head. But, like others, he fails to mention the nastiest trait of Trump. I seem to recall that a recording of Trump boasting of how he grabbed women by a certain part of their anatomy somehow got into the media. The French get close with the term “un bouleur” though we might prefer “a misogynist”. Either way, it should not be forgotten.
But then he probably told Melania it was fake news.
Collin Birch
Newcastle upon Tyne
• While in agreement with Simon Tisdall’s piece as a whole, I would point out that Corinthian Casuals is one of the oldest association football teams in existence, steeped in history and welded to its amateur status and indeed its Corinthian spirit.
For Tisdall to draw comparisons between CCFC and the current president of the United States, a man whose, erm, “qualities” could not possibly be described as any of the above, is inappropriate to say the least.
Jon Gibson
Surbiton, London
• It’s becoming increasingly evident that Putin has some hold on Trump that is just waiting to be revealed and could bring down the Trump presidency almost overnight. To use a Newcastle expression, if Trump’s not guilty, “I’ll bare my arse in Fenwick’s window”.
Brian Stokoe
Fulford, York
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