Letter to the editor: How to lose friends and alienate people

Letter to the editor: Brunswick Beacon, 07.09.26

Trump works hard at insulting people. Here’s Trump explaining how he created his newest insult: “I take the ‘b’ off because most people don’t know that dumb ends with a ‘b.’ I switch the ‘e’ with a ‘u’ and you have a Dumocrat.”

Political adversaries are one thing. But Trump told our Gulf ally Oman to behave, or “we’ll have to blow them up.” He even insults allies who fought and died for us in Afghanistan after 9/11.

Trump threatened to annex Canada, which lost 159 soldiers alongside us. When Prime Minister Carney said Canada was “not powerless,” Trump said, “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Trump threatened to take Greenland by force from Denmark, which lost 44 soldiers: “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not ... if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”

At the G7, Trump insulted Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: “She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.” Italy lost 53 soldiers defending us.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani cancelled his visit to the U.S., saying Trump’s words “offend all of Italy.”

Meloni’s response: “Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned. I don’t know why ⁠the president of the United States behaves like this toward his own allies. After all, it is not the first time.”

Meloni added: “It’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West and toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating.”

Meloni has a point. Why does Trump insult friends and kowtow to enemies? Whatever his reason, Trump is making America less safe.

Janine Sacramone

Leland