During a press availability in which she announced her resignation as UN ambassador on Tuesday, Nikki Haley repeatedly cited the “respect” other countries allegedly have for Trump as one of the administration’s greatest foreign policy accomplishments during her tenure.
“Look at what has happened in two years with the United States on foreign policy. Now, the United States is respected,” Haley said. “Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do.”
There’s just one problem — new polling from the Pew Research Center indicates that the opposite is actually the case.
BREAKING: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley resigns, declaring that the rest of the world couldn't possibly have more respect for Trump than it currently does pic.twitter.com/QJOuRpuyJv
— Richard Hine (@richardhine) October 9, 2018
As the following graph indicates, confidence in the U.S. president has tanked since Trump took over for Obama, particularly in Western Europe.
The survey, conducted across 25 countries, indicates world citizens have more confidence that strongmen like Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin will “do the right thing regarding world affairs” than Trump.
Other polls have also found that approval of U.S. leadership has tanked since Trump took office.
Nikki Haley says the U.S. is more respected overseas under Trump. Polling does not support this argument. pic.twitter.com/H7N0nVopAt
— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) October 9, 2018
There’s also strong anecdotal evidence that the world community does not respect Trump as much as he or Haley would have you believe. Last month, for instance, the UN General Assembly laughed in Trump’s face during his speech in which he bragged that “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
The president responded with an uncomfortable quip about how he “didn’t expect that reaction,” before quickly moving on.
During a Fox & Friends interview the following day, Haley tried to use the UN laughing at Trump as grist to attack the media.
“What’s interesting is: I looked at the media yesterday and they all want to talk about is what the world view of the president is,” she said. “What they need to understand is the world doesn’t understand the media in America right now.”