Suppose Portugal, instead of the United States, did it.
Suppose Portugal announced that it wanted France to be its newest state.
Governor Macron, and all that.
How would the world react?
Lunatic at the helm, maybe?
Suppose Portugal said that it intended to take over Greenland — preferably by negotiation, but by force, if necessary.
What would we think of the Portuguese leader? Would we be coming to take him away, ha-haaa?
Suppose Portugal imposed ridiculously high tariffs on the rest of the world.
Portugal’s economy doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things, so I guess the rest of the world would just let ’em do it, and let Portugal suffer the consequences.
Suppose Portugal started blowing up fishing boats off the coast of Great Britain, saying that the boats harbored drug smugglers, and Portugal wasn’t going to let the criminals get away with it any more.
Would the U.K. sit still?
Suppose Portugal launched a military raid to capture the president of another country.
Would the rest of the world tell Portugal not to do such things?
Suppose the president of Portugal started using social media to insult foreign leaders. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was “no Winston Churchill,” “spineless,” “cowardly,” and “a loser who has no future.” Sadiq Khan was a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor” of London. Suppose the Portuguese president posted on social media private notes that Portugal had received from Emanuel Macron and NATO Secretary Mark Rutte, publicly embarrassing the notes’ authors.
Would the U.K., France, and NATO later want to help Portugal if it had a moment of need?
Suppose Portugal started a war in Iran without consulting its allies and later, after the Strait of Hormuz was closed and the worldwide price of oil was skyrocketing, asked other countries to step in and open the Strait.
Having spent the previous year antagonizing people around the world, do you suppose Portugal would find much global sympathy or support?
(Come to think of it, suppose the president of Portugal had posted on social media that Donald Trump was a convicted felon who had been found liable for sexual assault — an entirely accurate statement — and later asked the United States to get Portugal out of a jam. How would Donald Trump react?)
I realize of course that the United States is rich and powerful, and the American economy and military matter more to the world than the Portuguese ones. But, on a personal level, do people react differently when they’re treated poorly by the leader of a rich and powerful country than when they’re treated poorly by the leader of a less rich and less powerful one?
Despite all that Trump has done, other global leaders might continue to treat the United States with public respect, for fear of the consequences if they do otherwise.
But you can bet your last dollar that no American ally now feels warmly toward the United States or is inclined to do the U.S. any optional favors.
America has gotten away with having a clownish buffoon at the helm because America is the most powerful country on earth.
But the guy at the helm is still a clownish buffoon, and everyone else in the world knows it.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].
