Why world should ignore Trump’s mockery of global leaders

Donald Trump, president of the most powerful and wealthiest country of the modern world, resorting to publicly mocking heads of government of sovereign countries actually embarrasses American citizens more than anyone, including rational supporters of his ‘Make America Great Again’ (Maga) movement.

The international community has witnessed Trump bestowing high praises on authoritarian leaders, and it has not gone down well with millions of people around the globe. At the same time, President Trump mocking foreign leaders publicly makes even neutral international public dislike his behaviour, and it has little tangible or intangible gain for the United States, which he statedly aims to ‘make great again’.

During his visit to South Korea, President Trump imitated Prime Minister Narendra Modi while making a statement on his discussion with the latter in May 2025 at the time of Operation Sindoor. More recently, Trump made fun of Modi while claiming that the Indian prime minister sought an appointment with him. While speaking to an audience largely consisting of his party leaders at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner meet, Trump reportedly said, “Prime Minister Modi came to see me and said, ‘Sir, may I see you please?’”. According to him, PM Modi made that request to discuss defence deals and tariff issues.

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First of all, leaders are not supposed to make public what they discuss with leaders of other countries, which can be described as diplomatic indecency or ignorance of appropriate diplomatic behaviour. Secondly, he resorted to courting wrong figures and timelines of India-US helicopter deals. Trump reportedly makes frequent statements by quoting wrong facts and figures, but it cannot be dismissed as inadvertent errors. What is surprising is the unexplainable making of a leader whom he frequently claims as a great friend.

It is quite likely that Trump’s definition of friendship is unique and different, and any friend who would not absolutely back his ideas or policies can no longer be his friend and can be ridiculed. Sober thinking, however, would make one conclude that mocking Modi in public is a clear demonstration of Trump’s frustration over the Modi government not backing his false claims, such as his playing a substantive role in ending the May 2025 armed conflict over Pakistan-backed terror attacks in Kashmir.

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While the vast majority of countries struck tariff deals with the Trump Administration, India neither confronted nor retaliated and rather tried to manage the consequences of Trumpian tariffs. This could have angered him more. In addition, India’s silence over Trump’s outreach to the Pakistani Army Chief closely after Operation Sindoor may have further enhanced his annoyance.

It is important to note that President Trump has a history of misbehaviour and disregard towards world leaders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was humiliated live on television during their summit at the White House. So was African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Trump also ridiculed French President Emmanuel Macron recently, telling how he strong-armed him into agreeing to triple the drug prices by threatening higher tariffs on all French exports to the United States. According to Trump, Macron told him, “Donald, you have a deal. I would like to increase my prescription drug prices by 200 per cent or whatever. Whatever you want, Donald, please don’t tell the population, I beg you.” Earlier in October, at the Gaza Peace Summit, President Trump had poked fun at the French President’s “low-key approach” that drew laughter, but many found no fun in it.

There is little doubt that some foreign leaders too ridicule Trump’s false claims and coercive approaches to foreign affairs. When Trump told Fox News in September 2025 that he solved the “unsolvable” war between Albania and Azerbaijan in place of Armenia and Azerbaijan and repeated the same mistake in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Albanian Prime Minister was “caught on camera” joking about Trump’s “geography mishap”. During his first term in office, Trump was mocked by French President Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Buckingham Palace reception.

All those who mock President Trump do not get media coverage, and many would be doing that in private. If President Trump knew all that, it would certainly upset him. Political leaders in many countries do poke fun and mock their rivals in the domestic ecosystem. In international affairs, such events are relatively rare.

While political leaders in office do not necessarily involve themselves in a popularity race in the international community, diplomatic decency demands that the principle of “sovereign equality of nations” is respected, particularly in the post-Cold War environment.

The world at least expects the head of government of the United States to refrain from ridiculing leaders of other countries. In fact, every country seeks to promote its national interest, and thus mutual praise among leaders can also be meaningless in substance. President Trump’s political behaviours are drastically different from his predecessors. But all his statements and policies will be part of the historical record, and historians may not judge him with kindness.

The large-hearted Prime Minister of India appears to be busy focusing on what can make India great and not on who said what. In addition, the Modi government is clear-minded on promoting India-US relations for the mutual benefit of the two countries—a relationship that would be sustainable in the long run, despite short-term turbulences.

The world needs to understand and appreciate the American people’s democratic values, ideals and positive role in world affairs and should ignore what kind of harsh, unpalatable and unhelpful statements President Trump makes about foreign leaders.

(The writer is founder chairperson, Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, and Editor, India Quarterly. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)