Why the World Is Haunted by This White House
The 47th president probably doesn’t know his own next move — forcing the rest of us to worry constantly.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump — how durable is this relationship?
Photographer: Handout/Getty Images EuropeDonald Trump is the 14th US president of my lifetime, and he claims a unique distinction. Through all the previous White House incumbencies, months went by when even educated, informed British, German, Indian, Brazilian, French or Australian people did not give a moment’s thought to America’s leader.
Sure, we noticed when a president visited our country or started a war or got impeached or had an incredibly beautiful wife who dressed wonderfully. We knew that the US was the richest and most influential nation on earth, and that on the big things we needed to play follow-my-leader. But even somebody like me, who lived in the US for a couple of years, and visited regularly until January 2025, did not lie awake nights wondering what our neighborhood superpower might do next.