I was the US soft power czar. Our reputation may never recover from this

But I believe because of Donald Trump and his war in Iran, American popularity will descend to depths it has not seen this century and may never recover to the median levels that we saw with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Forget Barack Obama numbers – they're out of reach. Confidence in Trump's ability to navigate global affairs was already around 30-40% before the invasion of Iran. That will be the new ceiling. "The world is watching," Trump said in his White House address on Wednesday. Yes, it is. 

 Our allies – and our adversaries – have long been confounded by the eternal see-saw of American presidential politics, where conservatives are replaced by liberals who are replaced by conservatives, and on and on. Biden's confident assertion after his election that "America was back," and that we were once again a reliable ally, was met by our friends with the question: "For how long?" It was a fair question. The assumption of the Biden administration was that Trump was the authoritarian anomaly, bookended by two liberal internationalists. It turns out that Biden may be the aberration…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/05/american-soft-power-iran-war

  

Trump’s war in Iran exposes US’s shift from a global guardian to an arbiter of chaos

The US is recklessly spreading economic havoc among global friends and foes while suffering little harm itself…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/25/trump-war-in-iran-us-shift-global-chaos 

BBC asks judge to toss Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit - POLITICO

"When the Documentary aired, Plaintiff had already been charged by a grand jury on four counts stemming from his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election," BBC lawyer Charles Tobin wrote. 

"Given the many allegations prior to the Documentary's release regarding Plaintiff's January 6 speech — and that shortly after its release, the President won reelection and carried Florida by a wide margin — Plaintiff cannot plausibly claim that the Documentary harmed his reputation."…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/16/bbc-lawsuit-donald-trump-00829994 

 

CDC scientists recall 'death by a thousand cuts' as they try to rebuild the agency's reputation - CNN

"This will go down as a colossal failure of the public health system of this country. The biggest challenge in a century and we let the country down. The public health texts of the future will use this as a lesson on how not to handle an infectious disease pandemic," Foege wrote . "The cause will be the incompetence and illogic of the White House program."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/05/health/cdc-rebuilding-confidence/index.html

US's global reputation hits rock-bottom over Trump's coronavirus response

Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which he once dismissed as a hoax, has been fiercely criticised at home as woefully inadequate to the point of irresponsibility. Yet also thanks largely to Trump, a parallel disaster is unfolding across the world: the ruination of America’s reputation as a safe, trustworthy, competent international leader and partner. Call it the Trump double-whammy. Diplomatically speaking, the US is on life support. ....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/12/us-global-reputation-rock-bottom-donald-trump-coronavirus

Inside the Online Campaign to Whitewash the History of Donald Trump’s Russian Business Associates - The Daily Beast

Who is paying bloggers on the other side of the globe to scrub the Internet of Trump's Russian business ties? ....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-online-campaign-to-whitewash-donald-trumps-russian-business-ties

Where the hell are Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell while Trump destroys the world as we know it? - Daily Kos

A lot of people in the media and even some conservatives are beginning wonder where the hell the leaders of the Republican party are as Donald Trump totally destroys our country, its reputation, and its place in the world as we once knew it. .....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1771068

The Real Damage of the Nunes Memo -- New York Magazine

The integrity of U.S. law enforcement system is under attack, and Trump may already be winning. ....
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/the-real-damage-of-the-nunes-memo.htm

A year later, Trump has made his own 'American carnage' -- USA TODAY

Four ways the president has damaged the United States: Our view ....
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/18/year-later-trump-has-made-his-own-american-carnage-editorials-debates/1038286001/

Why Putin’s Foes Deplore U.S. Fixation on Election Meddling -- The New York Times

"Enough already!" one critic of President Vladimir V. Putin said, worried that the accusations were helping the Kremlin polish the president's image as a master strategist. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/world/europe/russia-vladimir-putin-liberals.html?_r=0