The world watches the U.S. presidential race with ‘disbelief'.

[spanone]

As the prospect of Donald Trump winning the Republican Party’s presidential nomination grew more realistic, the questions became more common: what would it say to the rest of the world if Americans elected Trump to the White House? Just how much damage would such an election do the United States’ credibility?

And while those questions obviously matter, it’s also worth pausing to appreciate the fact that Trump’s current standing is already doing damage in the eyes of the world. Reuters published an interesting report this morning.

Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials.

Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump’s statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-world-watches-the-us-presidential-race-disbelief

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. So am I.

[spanone]

2. i feel the same...disbelief.

[olddots]

3. a question everywhere

What is a Wolf Blitzer ?

[ohnoyoudidnt]

35. it sounds like either a drink or something you pay an escort for.

[LonePirate]

4. Trump's supporters don't care how much our nation's credibility is damaged by him.

Anybody who is concerned about his impact on our nation's credibility doesn't support him.

[underpants]

9. Your right. This would actually encourage them.

They are so far inside the bubble they have little to no idea that there is an outside.

[CherokeeDem]

5. I have friends....

in Paris, London, and Glasgow and they are appalled at what's happening in the US. My Scottish friends hate Trump with a passion and think we're nuts. The others simply cannot understand. One said to me, "You have an amazing president in Barack Obama and you'd replace him with Trump?" They don't get it. Neither do I.....

[Lorien]

6. Let us not forget who encouraged him to run

[spanone]

7. debunked

Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men.

Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape......

The tone of the call was informal, and Clinton never urged Trump to run, the four people said. Rather, they said, Clinton sounded curious about Trump’s moves toward a presidential bid and told Trump that he was striking a chord with frustrated conservatives and was a rising force on the right.

One person with knowledge of Clinton’s end of the call said the former president was upbeat and encouraging during the conversation, which occurred as Trump was speaking out about GOP politics and his prescriptions for the nation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html

[Nedsdag]

15. Typical Clinton duopoly.

You gotta love Bill's "nuance".

[Calista241]

25. Look at all the super white teeth. n/t

[elfin]

8. Here's a bigger problem - if Trump is stopped, people might actually accept Cruz

In relief that Trump hasn't won the nomination. And IMO, he is far worse than Trump.

Wth Trump, you get lewd, crude, but perhaps flexible policies.

With Cruz you get all the very worst of the GOP economically and socially along with a generous serving of evangelical certitude to boot.

[etherealtruth]

23. I "hear" you elfin and agree competely

[cantbeserious]

28. Agreed Completely

eom

[Boudica the Lyoness]

33. I totally agree with you.

I'm scared to death of Cruz.

[world wide wally]

10. If Trump is stopped, and replaced by Cruz, about 75% of Trrump's supporters will never be heard from

again.

[octoberlib]

11. Americans are watching it with disbelief.

[spanone]

12. Bingo!!

[Hortensis]

13. Exactly my thought. We and "the world" have that in common.

[Paper Roses]

19. Include me in, along with many friends and family members. The situation makes me sick. n/t

[lunatica]

14. I'm getting quite alarmed too

[Rex]

16. As much as I hate this is going on, it is good for the world to see how fucked up the GOP

has become. The GOP likes to hide away from their obvious 'selling points'...and yet Trump has destroyed decades of their handy work by NOT staying behind the scenes and coding his words with the usual RWing dog whistles. The GOP is the party of the neo-nazis...Trump liked their endorsement.

Most of America wonders why we have fallen so far down that now our Presidential elections are like a crappy reality TV show.

[xocet]

34. It is probably safe to say that the world realized how screwed up the GOP is when W invaded Iraq....

n/t

[Rex]

36. I agree there was no hiding behind politics on that one. Fulled by money and power.

The worlds Millennials know now what we GenXers learned under Reagan and Poppy. Criminal war enterprises like to spread.

[LittleBlue]

17. The rest of the world has politicians just like him

Geert Wilders from the Netherlands, for instance, who recently encouraged the Dutch speaking part of Belgium to secede and join the Netherlands. Berlusconi from Italy. Nigel Farage from the UK. In Ukraine, Japan, Turkey, and South Africa, there have been physical brawls on the floors of their parliaments. All within the last year!

The idea that wacky politics is a uniquely American thing is mostly an anti-American myth.

[pampango]

20. You make a very good point. But I suppose that in many ways a 'Trump' in the US is worse than a

'Trump' in the Netherlands or other countries in terms of the potential damage to people outside of his home country. If Donald screws up our economy or is commander-in-chief of our military, the effect of citizens of other countries is likely more dramatic than we are other countries are affected by a Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.

But you are right that the right wing crazies that produce 'RW populists' like Trump are apparently universal. It is just that in smaller countries they can only screw up their own country.

[LittleBlue]

24. Very true. nt

[spanone]

22. true, but none of those nations are the 'leader of the free world'

[malaise]

18. One of my American nephews said he's trying to get

a visa to go and spend sometime with our big sister and her family in Denmark - he plans to work there hence the visa. He has three adult male cousins and their families as well. He told me this yesterday and he sure seems serious.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. I dont think "he's frightening the furriners" is going to ding him much with his support base

I suspect thats one of his selling points.

[Fairgo]

26. Having a go at my expense

My Aussie friends just laugh and shake their heads. They have a soft spot for Yanks, but this guy Drumpf is jus "not on".

[fredamae]

27. I Feel Their Knowing...It is Surreal

All my life I was told "That can Never happen in America-How do you know?>This Is America, that's why".
Whew. My beloved elders (The Greatest Generation) are surely spinning in their graves.

[jalan48]

29. Is the rest of the world aware of how much Trump has been promoted by our mainstream media?

It started last summer and has been relentless ever since. Why?

[struggle4progress]

31. I've watched many many US elections with disbelief

People really voted for Nixon?
People really voted for Reagan?
People really voted for GHW Bush?
People really voted for GW Bush?

[tabasco]

32. The most mind boggling was G. AWOL Bush's re-election

after scum republicans slimed a Silver Star awardee.



And after this....

[phylny]

37. We just came back from St. Kitts.

The people I spoke with thought we were nuts up here.