Trump in the china shop

Trump's first foreign trip was not disastrous! Phew!! He was gracious to the Pope - although not gracious to poor Sean Spicer who got excluded from the audience with the Holy Father even though he was the most devout Catholic in the delegation - he appeared to curtsy to the Saudi king, he didn't say anything dreadful to Netanyahu, was warm and cosy with the Palestinian leader, and didn't shout at Merkel. Yet, throughout the trip there was the sense of a bull in the china shop, a big man pushing his way around, his lips thrust out like Mick Jagger but without the swingy hips. He grasped President Macron's hand like he wanted to tear it off his arm, as if there was a message there. "I'm boss in the Western world, don't try and upstage me, you little froggie squirt, excuse my French." Macron's eyes watered, but, good for him, he tried to give the same back, but I think the handshake challenge was probably won by Trump. He can't speak a word of French but oui oui oui he can grip a Frenchman's hand like a real tough guy American president. Then, of course, there was the hapless Montenegro prime minister. He was pushed to one side during the gathering of Nato leaders, like a Melania swat. Dusco Markovic, excited at attending the Nato session with his country only recently accepted into the mighty Cold War-winning security organisation, gets the Trump heavy hand. "Out of my way, whoever you are, I'm the president of the USA." Markovic, bless him, was positively saintly about the push, saying that it was quite right for the US president to want to be in the front for the Nato family picture. But can you imagine the cool dude Obama ever doing something like that? He would have been charm itself, even gently pushing Markovic into the front line, as the new kid on the bloc. Trump hardly seemed to notice what he had done, just one shove, then pulled his jacket together, did the Mick Jagger lips routine and prepared himself for the photo. There's a lesson here, Donald. You don't have to be a bully boy to be president of the United States. On the contrary, as the commander-in-chief of 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, dozens of submarines - two of which we now know are off North Korea, thanks to Trump's boasting to the dreadful President Duterte of the Philippines - thousands of super-duper (as Trump would say) special forces troops and so many nuclear missiles he has lost count, you need to be charming, courteous, respectful even towards the smallest of nations, friendly and extremely smart and knowledgeable. Trump has few of those attributes. He ain't going to make any friends the way he conducts himself, apart from the Pope maybe.