Before I say nasty things about Trump’s foreign policy, I must complement the US president on his business acumen.
During the first 18 months of his second term, Trump has increased his wealth by 165 per cent, which is to say by billions. As a good family man, Trump has also looked after his kin, with his sons parlaying their father’s tenure into hundreds of millions, and his wife into even more hundreds of them.
This instant upswing in the Trump family fortunes may be called conflict of interest in some quarters and corruption in others. Yet if Trump’s detractors think they’ll be able to get him and his after 2029, they have another think coming.
It’s almost certain that Trump’s last presidential act will be to pardon himself, his family and friends for any wrongdoing. All will be forgiven and eventually forgotten: that dubious gilded airliner, the cryptocurrency that made billions even though Trump himself once described such digital assets as a “scam”, the sheik-and-bake deals Trump’s sons struck in the Middle East.
To use the American expression, Trump hit a home run with all the bases loaded – well played, Donald. Alas, the president hasn’t displayed the same clarity of thought and single-mindedness of purpose when it comes to US foreign policy.
We none of us can escape our past altogether, which becomes especially clear when we change occupations. Mea culpa: my dissipated advertising past, hard as I’ve tried to live it down, left an imprint on my writing style. And I only wrote ads for less than 30 years.
Trump developed properties, struck deals, built and ran casinos for you-know-whom in places like Atlantic City, and rubbed shoulders with Russian gangsters in and out of government for almost twice as long. Hence we aren’t talking imprints there – we are talking personality formed and mentality circumscribed.
If you forget about Trump for a moment, imagine a hypothetical Mr Someone with that kind of CV and describe him feature by feature, you’ll end up with a perfect psychological profile of Trump.
Eye on the main chance? Tick. A knack for self-promotion no matter how vulgar? Tick. Adoration of power and contempt for weakness? Tick. Defining legal as anything he can get away with? Tick. Denominating human worth in monetary units? Tick. Rating personal loyalty to himself above all virtues? Tick.
Add to this some extra touches Trump adds to this identikit portrait, such as pathological narcissism, crudeness beyond even that expected in a property developer, functional illiteracy, and you’ll have a full complement of the qualities he brings to bear on US foreign policy.
It’s hard to know when narcissism ends and delusions of grandeur begin – even psychiatrists among my friends can’t pinpoint the exact moment. Here’s some more clinical data for them to ponder. The other day, Trump wrote: “Nobody knows God better than me. And NOBODY is loved more by God than me!”
The only man in history who had a right to make that claim was Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, son and hypostasis of God. Hence I fully expect Trump to climb on the roof of one of his gaudy towers and deliver his own version of the Beatitudes: “Do unto others before they can do it unto you,” and so on.
Since I don’t live in America any longer, I don’t know from any personal observation how such traits play in Trump’s natural habitat. I do know that, like many other leaders who exude manic energy (I’ll spare Trump some unflattering comparisons), he has many zealous adherents.
However, I can see what his policies are doing to the outside world, especially the part of it I love, Europe. Since Trump perceives, not incorrectly, Europe as weak, he has nothing but contempt for it and its leaders. However, some of them can redeem themselves by offering him what I call labiogluteal tribute (I try to avoid crude terms).
Conversely, those who dare contradict him, no matter how respectfully, slip a notch down in his estimation. Mild contempt gives way to active enmity, and US foreign policy changes accordingly.
The whole devilishly complex game of geopolitical relations is thus reduced to personal relationships. If Trump likes his counterpart in another country, that country moves up in the rating of America’s friends – and vice versa.
In common with the dog-eat-dog business of property development, political foes can become friends overnight and the other way around. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is a case in point.
When Trump was elected to his second term, Merz was effusive in his praise. He rushed to Washington to congratulate Trump in person, laid compliments on ten layers thick, brought the right gifts and assured Trump that he saw both him and his country as indispensable partners for Germany.
The meeting went swimmingly, and Merz was as good as his word. Unlike other major European countries, Germany supported Israel’s and America’s actions in the Middle East, including the 12-day war, and refused to recognise the Palestine State.
At first, Merz also supported the on-going war on Iran, and Trump was happy: his pal Friedrich was a stand-up guy. But then things rapidly went from good to bad to worse.
When it became clear that no regime change in Iran was going to happen quickly, Merz’s feelings changed. He even had the temerity to reject Trump’s request for assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, the pesky chancellor justified his treachery by posing a rhetorical question: “Did they ask us when they started the war?”
Since Trump sees himself as at least a divine man, if not fully God, he had to visit Merz’s sins upon his country. Immediately announced was the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany, which was in line with Trump’s general belief that national US interests don’t include NATO and its pusillanimous European members who “rip off” America by refusing to “pay up” for their own defence.
One country that pays up at a rate even higher than America’s own is Poland, but that alone wasn’t enough for Trump to relent. A personal touch was needed, and the other day Trump provided it with his usual grammatical flair:
“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland.”
Nawrocki, a nationalist who is widely rumoured to have mafia connections, is clearly a man after Trump’s own heart. So much is par for the course. But here’s an interesting detail: Nawrocki was elected in August 2025, almost a year ago. Why did Trump have to wait so long to display his generosity?
At little cost to the US, one has to add. In all likelihood, Trump simply saved on transportation costs by shifting that 5,000-strong contingent sideways from Germany to Poland. Still, why that gesture? Why now? And why the obviously disingenuous explanation for it?
Go back to the sketchy personality profile I tried to draw above. Trump isn’t beefing up Poland’s defences; he is sending a message urbi et orbi. His friends will be rewarded; his foes, punished. Any European country whose leader is the former may receive America’s help. Other countries won’t – it’s as simple as that.
So next time Europeans go to the polls, they’d better decide whether their country needs US assistance, military or economic. If the answer is yes, they MUST Vote for Candidates who Trump is proud to Endorse. Scratch Trump’s back, and he’ll scratch yours – such is the gist of US foreign policy.
It’s not business, just personal. This approach may work like a charm in property development, but staking the future of the world on Trump’s likes and dislikes is tantamount to courting disaster. Dividing the world into pezzonovanti, like Xi and Putin, and nobodies, those reduced to the role of vassals and eulogists at best or enemies at worst, may play in Atlantic City.
But world politics calls for a sager, more nuanced approach. At issue are war or peace, liberty or slavery, life or death – not the bottom line at the end of a quarter. And not even Trump’s list of names for this year’s Christmas cards.