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Witnesses to Trump’s calls say he has a weakness for leaders with absolute power and contempt for allies seeking favors
Donald Trump described Theresa May and Angela Merkel as “losers” after they suffered political setbacks, and was repeatedly rude to them, without any of the deference he showed to authoritarian rulers, according to former officials and diplomats.
Those who have witnessed the president’s phone calls and meetings with foreign leaders said he had a weakness for monarchs and leaders with absolute power, because that is how he would ideally like to govern. He could be contemptuous of democratic allies, on the other hand, if they had done poorly in elections or opinion polls, and generally viewed them as supplicants asking for personal favours. “Catch Trump at the wrong moment, when he has a fresh grievance (ie most days) and he can be pretty charmless,” a former European official said. Continue reading...