Recent global reactions show the world’s diminishing respect for American leadership, particularly following Trump’s 2024 election victory and subsequent actions in 2025.

International polling reveals a dramatic decline in America’s global standing, with only 46% of people across 29 countries believing the US will have a positive influence on world affairs, down from 59% just months earlier[1]. Even in Canada, traditionally a close ally, positive views of the US plummeted from 52% to just 19%[1:1].

Trump’s 58-minute UN speech in September 2025 drew stony faces from world leaders, a stark contrast to previous years when delegates would laugh at his claims[2]. According to body language expert Peter Collett, “People are taking it much more seriously. Whereas formerly it was a source of amusement when he puffed himself up, now almost everything he has to say has to be taken seriously”[2:1].

The administration’s policies have further eroded America’s standing. Massive tariffs imposed on nearly 70 countries have disrupted global trade[3], while Trump’s stance on immigration and inflammatory rhetoric about other nations has alienated allies. At the UN, Brazilian President Lula warned of “attacks on sovereignty, arbitrary sanctions and unilateral interventions” becoming the norm[4].

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez emerged as a leading European voice opposing American policies, defending migration and open societies while warning about “the door to tyranny”[4:1]. Meanwhile, Indonesian President Subianto received applause at the UN for declaring “No one country can bully the whole of the human family”[4:2].


  1. Ipsos - America’s reputation drops across the world ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. DW - Trump’s UN speech no laughing matter as body language shows ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Yahoo News - Trump Rants About Countries Laughing at America ↩︎

  4. The Guardian - Trump’s UN speech makes it clear: the world can no longer look to the US for strong leadership ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  • تحريرها كلها ممكن@lemmy.ml
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    7 hours ago

    Trump is the most Amerikan president, yet. A perfect representation of the people and the culture of the USA today.

    “As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.” – H. L. Mencken

    Congrats to the Amerikan people on their achievement. Though they could probably go beyond perfection with their can-do attitude.

  • DSN9@lemmy.ml
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    15 hours ago

    The USA is analogous to the Soviet Union. Fake food, fake happiness, fake or poor quality everything- even beyond just goods and services. American speech is fake, the political class, intentionality, even well meaning people are fake. Nothing is meaningful with intention. Their democracy is fake, and so is their standing and success. All fake. Their clothes are cheap slop, everything is brand obsession but with zero substance, all marketing. Brand obsession might as well be considered a form of propaganda at this point, as the line between branding and political influence is blurry. They destroyed what semblance of country and community they once had.

    They’re on the verge of having one helluva hangover when they sober up.

    The worst part is, they don’t know it. They are living in a bubble that is bombarded with corporatism/ political propaganda.

  • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Only propaganda kept the image of the US alive, and their sole position as THE military superpower meant everyone had to just take the long shaft of American intervention, either the easy way or the hard way, but it ain’t the early 00s anymore. Also, American culture has progressively lost its mask (and social media like TikTok just tore it off, basically), so the ugliness of imperialism and the disgusting selfishness mixed with post-relativist amorality just destroyed any “face” the US had. 🤷

  • kyub@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 day ago

    Though laughing about the current regime in USA is an understandable reaction, it’s also at the same time not a laughing matter at all. It’s a bit like a great comedian or clown who is very entertaining and goofy at first but at the end he randomly kills 1 person from the audience. Still a funny act? No. Because at the end of this craziness, people will needlessly suffer and/or die.

    The country still has huge world-wide influence, and if that influence originates from crazies, that’s not great for anyone, neither for US citizens nor for any other country in the world which has to at least partly deal with the US somehow. It is, however, a great and very visible warning sign for other countries to hopefully not follow the US into such craziness.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
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    1 day ago

    That this reaction didn’t happen during any Bush or Reagan administration is stunning.

    • folaht@lemmy.ml
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      18 hours ago

      US still has an abundance of coal. Together with the weak monarchic but oil rich Saudi Arabia, the oil rich, but coal poor Soviet Union collapsed. Now there are two alternatives, China’s weaker, but socialist coal industry and the much much much stronger solar photovoltaic industry completely dominated by China again.
      It’s both of these developments that are causing the situation to be normal instead of the weird events of 1989-1992 and 2008.

    • krigo666@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      As bad those two were, do you really that they even come close to the shitshow that is the Orange Turd???

      • wurzelgummidge@lemmy.ml
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        12 hours ago

        Unfortunately, the orange turn is just the clown face emoji that the people who are really running America hide behind.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        1 day ago

        I think if people weren’t so self-absorbed, this point in time would be different. And it will get worse, not because people are powerless, but because they’re more self-absorbed than ever.

        • ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world
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          24 hours ago

          Yeah! How dare people be focused on their own self-interests!

          The masses have lost interest because they are, in fact, powerless. The Republican party specifically and career politicians in general have made it perfectly clear that they have been perverting and subverting every aspect of our governmental and legal systems to the point that the only option available to make positive change will be mass demonstration. Mass demonstration is extremely difficult here to begin with and in addition we have been culturally subdivided in such a way to make unrest seem like a localized issue.

          How about we stop using blanket statements that imply all Americans are lazy, entitled, and careless like we aren’t on the brink of a civil war.

          Man. Just get fucked with this attitude.

          Also: https://generalstrikeus.com/ - https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

          • Zahille7@lemmy.world
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            20 hours ago

            I’m equally annoyed with the people who comment on posts like this with those stupid pictures of “damn that’s crazy, where are the Epstein files”

            Like, everything is a distraction from everything else. Pull your head out of your ass and do something about it currently

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        1 day ago

        Freedom fries? If you’re not with us, you’re against us? Axis of evil? He wasn’t as crude but it was bad.

        • IronBird@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          yup, they only have 1 playbook. it’s sort of an interesting litmus test for when people woke up, what specific event/s was the moment for them

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 day ago

      Well, at least Bush and Reagon also not stupider as the most other world leader and compared to Trump they are Einsteins.

  • yucandu@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    The only people laughing are Russia and China. The rest of us are fucking terrified.

    • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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      19 hours ago

      yeah, motherfuckers will invest a literal trillion on their military from now on.

      china and russia won’t be attacked willy nilly because they have nuclear weapons. we on the other hand have historically been on the other end of the barrel of US aggression.

      • folaht@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        Russia is currently being attacked willy nilly and there’s talk to do the same with China.

        • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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          8 hours ago

          kind of, but both of them are capable of defending themselves, is what i mean. all we can usually do most of the time is to die.

        • DSN9@lemmy.ml
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          15 hours ago

          Yes, I forgot Ukraine invaded Russia in 2014 then again in 2022. Must have got my history wrong.

          Also they pushed intense propaganda while Russia was deploying Nukes in Belarus and along the border then gas lighted the shit out of Zerohedgers and RT’ers and blamed the west.

          • Grapho@lemmy.ml
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            13 hours ago

            Ukraine was couped by the US and put the most pro genocide party in charge. Imagine everyone’s shock when they immediately tried to apply the Israel playbook on the ethnic Russians in the east.

            So, yeah, you got your history wrong, comes with being a lib.

            • DSN9@lemmy.ml
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              9 hours ago

              Russia peacefully invades and bombs Ukraine and in return these Ukrainian and European Nazis cause war by daring to resist.

              Human rights abuses by Russians count in the thousands, ironically against its own citizens and Ukrainians. Russia is currently perpetuating genocide in the eastern regions, not Ukraine. You do realize you’re advocating for a regime that has murdered millions of it’s own citizens, it is a bit absurd to try to gaslight.

              • Grapho@lemmy.ml
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                8 hours ago

                Russia is currently perpetuating genocide in the eastern regions, not Ukraine

                Everything is possible with Atrocity Propaganda™️, America’s #1 solution for whitewashing your newest proxy wars. Also try No U: Gaza’s a genocide? ✨No, u✨ did a genocide in Xinjiang!

                👍🏾

                Read a little. Not even CIAmnesty is stupid enough to say Russia is attempting, let alone carrying out a genocide jfc.

        • Sideshow_B00b@lemmy.zip
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          16 hours ago

          Russia attacked ”willy nilly”? Through no fault of their own? So when Russia invades my country we shouldn’t fight back? Got it, thanks.