As world leaders grapple with instability, Trump's attacks are making moderates popular again
Donald Trump has been giving leaders such as Mark Carney, Mexican Claudia Sheinbaum, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer a popularity boost, experts say.
LONDON — The second Trump administration may have ruffled the feathers of America’s allies, but there is also evidence it has boosted world leaders scrambling to deal with the White House’s norm-busting approach.
Some have gained plaudits for meeting Trump head-on, while others have taken a more nuanced line between flattering the president and trying to shore up their own interests against the headwinds blowing from Washington.
Canada’s Mark Carney is poised to win next month’s election by volubly rejecting President Donald Trump’s hostile advances to make his country the 51st state. On the flip side, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has earned accolades for becoming something of a Trump whisperer, deftly responding to his tariff threats and seeing her own popularity rise accordingly.
In Europe, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have received polling boosts following their widely praised Trump strategies. And the embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has seen his numbers rise as he has tried to cope with Washington’s brusque approach.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP - Getty Images“The standing of politicians who are having to deal with the crisis engendered by Trump’s presidency is leading to a rise in their popularity, if they seem to be doing this in a reasoned and proper way,” said Dominic Grieve, the former British attorney general and an ex-senior lawmaker for the Conservative Party.
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