President Trump’s antagonizing of people around the world has sparked quite the backlash. He’s instituting barely coded religious tests, “yelling” at and hanging up on leaders of democratic countries, and still vowing to build that big, beautiful border wall. (Now partly transparent!) Last week, the Netherlands tried to assuage fears of friction with an “official” welcome video, using President Trump’s own words to promise he’ll be embraced with open arms. As its new saying goes, “America First, the Netherlands Second.”
Turns out that Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, and Germany—where citizens’ trust in the U.S. has eroded to a record low—all want to get in on the Trump trolling, too. Comedy shows in these countries have recently produced their own “second” videos, featuring Trump impersonations that sharply mimic his unique oratory eloquence. Some, like Swiss TV show Deville Late Night’s parody, compare their country directly to the Netherlands in Trumpian fashion: “Look at those mountains, those big flat mountains,” the voice-over goes. “We’re not flat like, for example, the Netherlands. They are so flat. Total disaster.”
But perhaps best capturing the spirit was the German late-night show Neo Magazin Royale, honing in on Trump’s apparent desire to provoke countries until we’re on the brink of war. “Germany hosted two world wars in the last 100 years,” the video explains. “They were the best world wars in the world, and we won both of them big league, anyone who says anything else is fake news—period.”
In other words, yes, the world is pretty relentlessly mocking us right now.
