(Dobbs) “If they don’t behave, we’ll drop bombs on their heads.”Trump disrupts peace around the world, but then the G7 leaders praise him for, well, restoring peace around the world.
We can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for the global leaders at the G7 summit to sing the praises of Donald Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them spent half the night hanging over their toilets. Yet sing his praises they did. In a joint statement, they said, “Under the strong leadership of President Trump, the United States is back to leading the effort to restore peace around the world. President Trump will continue to work towards ensuring Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.” How weird is that? He disrupts peace around the world, but then they praise him for, well, restoring peace around the world. But they had to. They have learned from hard experience, if you don’t wax lyrical about Donald Trump, this petty president will hurt you. You, your citizens, your nation. How hard must it have been for Prime Minister Keir Starmer from the U.K.? Time and again, Trump has insulted Starmer and his military. The most cutting on a personal level was when the prime minister initially rejected Trump’s request to stage air attacks against Iran out of a British base in the Indian Ocean, and Trump’s response was, “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” Do you think it was easy for Starmer to put his signature on that statement at the G7? Or Emmanuel Macron, the president of France? After Macron declared early in the war, “We are not a party to the conflict,” Trump dismissed his importance, saying, “Well, he’ll be out of office very soon.” Then at a White House lunch, Trump coarsely referred to a video of Mrs. Macron shoving her husband as they got off a plane and for the amusement of the audience, mocked the French president. “I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly, (he is) still recovering from the right to the jaw.” How hard was it for Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni? Once Trump was her biggest fan, but after she said Italy would not participate in the war, and scolded the president for his crass comments about the pope, he changed his tune. “Do people like her?,” he said to an Italian newspaper. “I can’t believe it. I thought she had courage. I was wrong.” How hard was it for German chancellor Friedrich Merz? In April he criticized the American war with Iran, saying the United States was “being humiliated.” In typical fashion, Trump shot back, “No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both economically, and otherwise!” And yet at the G7 yesterday, Merz honored Trump’s 80th birthday with a gift: a soccer jersey saying “Trump” and “47.” The old saw about that is, you do what you have to do. And it probably was hardest for Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada. Trump not only has repeatedly offended Carney, he has repeatedly offended Canada, saying for example in an interview from the Super Bowl, “I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state,” even though Canadian leaders and the Canadian people have made it crystal clear, they don’t want to be our 51st state. Of course Trump being Trump, he just ignores that, disrespectfully referring to Prime Minister Carney as “governor.” Probably the angriest rhetoric came at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, when Carney gave his speech and said that American leadership “no longer works,” and accused the “great powers” of weaponizing economic tools like tariffs. He never mentioned Donald Trump’s name, but there was no secret about who he had in mind. Carney got a standing ovation. When Trump got up to talk, he aimed his bullying barbs right at Canada’s leader: “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.” How hard must it have been for Mark Carney to sign a statement lauding “the strong leadership of President Trump?” He couldn’t have believed it, but like everyone else in his exclusive club, he had no choice. Here’s how dismissive Donald Trump is of our allies. Yesterday morning, he was late for a G7 meeting and kept his peers waiting. That’s because he was busy issuing screeds from his Truth Social account. And because he doesn’t see them as peers. When he finally walked in, he pretended to joke that it was okay to leave them waiting because “I’m the boss.” For this ego-driven man though, it is no joke. But some of the leaders laughed anyway. They know what a spiteful man he can be if they don’t. They know what a mean man he can be if they don’t. They know that if they don’t laugh at Donald Trump’s jokes and don’t bend a knee to his demands, they will suffer his retribution. One thought about the memorandum of understanding soon to be signed by the United States and Iran. In its opening paragraph, it commits each side to “refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.” Odd words, considering that the memorandum was publicly released just hours after Trump did just that: he threatened the use of force again against Iran. “If it doesn’t get done in 60 days, that’s all right. We go back to bombing,” he said. “If they don’t behave, we’ll drop bombs on their heads.” Share Do we have to wonder why Iran probably doesn’t trust us any more than we have reason to trust them? Yet this is the kind of leadership the G7 leaders had no choice but to praise. Pity them. Pity us all. © 2026 Greg Dobbs |