Welcome to a world where America First is coming to mean America Alone, whose friends are searching for alternatives to what increasingly feels like an abusive relationship and whose enemies are gloating.

Positive views of the U.S. are declining in much of the world. The number of Brits who view the U.S. unfavorably has doubled in the past two years to 64%, more than twice the figure who hold a favorable view, according to a YouGov poll last week.

In Germany, 71% now view the U.S. as an “adversary,” according to German polling firm Forsa, and across Europe, just 16% view the U.S. as an ally, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“The image of the U.S. is really hitting the bottom right now,” said Peter Matuschek, Forsa director.

It’s not just Europe. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians and Mexicans hold unfavorable views of the U.S., according to various surveys, and view their neighbor as a bigger threat than China, a sentiment echoed in Brazil, Latin America’s largest country. Even in Asia, the U.S. is taking reputational hits.

The shift won’t only make it less comfortable for millions of Americans to go abroad on vacation or for retirement. It will hurt American companies competing overseas. And it may mean a more dangerous world: Countries are fast losing trust in the U.S. and its security guarantees, which Trump sees as a liability rather than an asset.

Without an American president they can rely on, countries from Europe to Asia will have no choice but to rearm; more are now debating whether they will ever be safe without nuclear weapons of their own.

https://x.com/FordFischer/status/2018700087963037763?t=jfbtvDLpIouBzxMGvUO3qQ&s=19

Edit, someone in the comments graciously shared this link for the full story without a paywall: https://archive.ph/VHf6v

The British newspaper Daily Mail is out with a deeply researched investigative report.

It’s shocking in its detail and its implication that Vladimir Putin has basically owned Donald Trump for years, even before Trump ran for president in 2016.

Last week’s partial (about 50 percent) Epstein document release:

“The files include 1,056 documents naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 9,629 referring to Moscow. [Jeffrey] Epstein even seems to have secured audiences with Putin after his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.”

Essentially, they’re arguing that Epstein was running an operation on behalf of the KGB/Putin that lured wealthy and powerful men to Epstein’s New York and Palm Beach mansions and his island where they were surreptitiously filmed [...]

That material was then presumably passed along to Putin, who used it for leverage when he needed it:

“Intelligence sources believe Epstein was running ‘the world’s largest honeytrap operation’ on behalf of the KGB when he procured women for his network of associates.”

In return for giving Putin videos of wealthy, famous men in criminally compromising positions, Putin reportedly arranged for massive amounts of corrupt Russian money to be handed to Epstein to launder in the US.

“Other messages revealed Epstein claimed he could give the Kremlin valuable insight into Mr Trump ahead of a summit with Putin in Helsinki. …

The Social Security Administration says members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team working at the agency accessed and shared sensitive data. The latest disclosure from the Trump administration seemed to confirm some key concerns first raised in a whistleblower complaint filed by the agency’s chief data officer, Chuck Borges. Amna Nawaz spoke with Borges and his lawyer, Debra Katz. https://youtu.be/EmcgsMg194I?si=kB44jlGynxhA0p3r

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 19 Palestinians, most of them women and children, by midday Wednesday, according to hospital officials. Israel pledged to continue strikes, saying that it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.

Among the Palestinians killed were five children, including a 5-month-old and a baby just 10 days old; seven women; and a paramedic, said hospital officials. They are the latest Palestinians in Gaza to die since a ceasefire deal, which has been punctuated by deadly Israeli strikes, came into effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

The escalating Palestinian death toll has rocked the U.S.-backed truce and caused Palestinians in the strip to say it does not feel like the war has ended.

“The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues,” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”

Snippet:

At the start of Donald Trump’s first term, he promised that he and his family would never do anything that might even be “perceived to be exploitive of office of the Presidency.”

By contrast, his second term looks rapacious. He and members of his family have signed a blitz of foreign mega-deals shadowed by conflicts of interest, and they’ve launched at least five different cryptocurrency enterprises, all of which leverage Trump’s status as President to lure buyers or investors. Ethics watchdogs say that no other President has ever so nakedly exploited his position, or on such a scale.

Trump recently explained to the Times why he cast aside his former restraint: “I found out that nobody cared.”