(Image: South Yorkshire Police/the Press Association)
SUPPORTERS of President Donald Trump often say that his opponents suffer “Trump Derangement Syndrome” because he provokes an irrational or excessive hostility in them.
However…
Firstly, the president announces a deal with Vladimir Putin for Russia to supply the US with diesel which, he says, will bring down the price of fuel in time for the mid-term elections. This deal, which will have negligible effect on pump prices, drives a hole through US sanctions on Russia and will provide money for Putin to fight Ukraine – a country the US has been backing over Russia.
This is selfish and even reckless. Although Mr Trump has announced a peace deal by which Russia and Ukraine have agreed not to target each other’s fuel plants, Russia appears to have stepped up its attacks. He has emboldened his enemy.
Then comes his distressing posting, on social media, of a tiger attacking William Chapman – a man with “significant mental illness” – in the Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster. Mr Trump added the tagline: “Don’t ever mess with nature.”
It was very questionable whether this was an appropriate action for a US president, but he has followed it up with an AI-generated video showing himself apparently mimicking Mr Chapman’s movements and then wrestling a tiger to the ground over the soundtrack of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
It shows a callous lack of judgement and that it is the US president, the leader of the free world, who is himself looking worryingly deluded.