In the case of countries less committed to an alliance with the United States, there are both economic and security considerations that have discouraged them from working with us, but now they have a reason to feel emotionally hesitant regardless of any of the more tangible reasons to remain independent of any binding international agreements forged in America’s image.
Trump’s behavior, his tweets, his ignorance, and hatred for anyone but himself hasn’t yet shown itself to be intellectualized in that it all seems unclear. He doesn’t seem to philosophize about a world in which only white Christians have power. He seems more angry and unbalanced than someone who would present heinous arguments about genetics and superior races and religions that worship the devil. There may be hope that he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about and isn’t actually directing all white supremacists to commit acts of violence. His arguments don’t seem nuanced or lucid or organized, which is good. It’s much better than having an organized group that is harder to contain and disperse.
Regardless, Trump seems also unaware that, like it or not, his role is to speak! His role is to be clear in what he says, and if he’s not supporting nationalist tendencies and exclusionary policies, then I don’t think the international community has gotten the message. I don’t think anyone believes that. This is going to hurt Trump, but it’s going to hurt the United States much more if all of us can’t outdo his behavior by being ten times more mature. We need to show the international community that he’s not one of us, or we could lose them.