Destructiveness on display on foreign trips

One constant for President Donald Trump is his appalling and destructive behavior whenever he travels abroad. At the G-20 meetings in Osaka, he insulted Japan, the meeting's host, cozied up to the near czar Vladimir Putin and celebrated with him the "fake news media" as the enemy of the people. The President, to Putin's delight, made light of Mueller's findings that Russia engaged in extensive, systematic and purposeful meddling in our elections.

Setting aside his fascination with autocrats and his total disdain for democratic values and institutions, Trump has in just two-and-one-half years in office undermined the multilateral alliances, treaties and institutions that have given us 75 years of global stability. His withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the blunt force trauma of his sanctions have given Iran impetus to develop nuclear weapons again. He single-handedly sabotaged the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an arrangement with a primary purpose of restraining China economically and military in that area of the world. He has called into question the value of NATO and created unnecessary hostility with our allies far and near. Transforming multilateral arrangements into bilateral negotiations has served only one purpose, keeping narcissistic Donald Trump at the center of attention, but it has not left our country better off.

His performance in Osaka and in Helsinki leads to disturbing questions: Does President Donald Trump not remember (let alone understand) his swearing-in oath to " ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," including the First Amendment's guarantee of a free press? Or is he merely a "useful idiot," as the Russians like to refer to someone who wittingly or unwittingly advances their cause? In either case, it does not matter. America's national security and standing in the global community under the Trump administration have been vastly diminished. This fact should be uppermost in every voter's mind come November 2020.

Lynn Jensen

Arlington Heights