Trump praises murderous dictators, but calls close democratic ally "evil"

Few things thrill and inspire Donald Trump more than brutal dictators, alive or dead. He has praised everyone from Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte — who has ordered the slaughter of his own people — to Saddam Hussein. He and his cabinet have had nothing but praise for Saudi Arabia, and his administration has called Russia an “ally.”

But during Trump’s first international trip as president, he had some very harsh words indeed. For Germany.

According to German news outlet Der Spiegel, Trump “complained bitterly” about German trade policy during a meeting with officials from the European Union:

“The Germans are evil, very evil,” said Trump. … Trump said, “Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US, and we’ll stop that.”

While one could make a compelling argument about evil atrocities committed by Germans in the past, the cars they manufacture and sell would not be the most persuasive point to make.

This is not the first time Trump has insulted Germany, which is an American ally, though he seems not to understand that. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Trump in the Oval Office, he refused to shake her hand.

In fact, Trump has managed to offend and alienate a number of America’s closest allies. After the world learned that Trump had given Israel’s top secret information to Russian officials, European allies openly expressed concern about sharing classified information with the president of the United States, calling him “a security risk for the entire western world.”

During his first month in office, Trump hung up the phone on the prime minister of Australia — another close ally — and told Mexico’s president he “just might send” our military into Mexico to deal with the nation’s “bad hombres.”

Despite Trump’s vicious language about Mexicans, from the very first day of his campaign when he called them “rapists,” Mexico is also an ally of the United States.

When it comes to some of the most brutal and murderous world leaders, though, Trump has plenty of nice things to say:

At Trump’s current rate of alienating and insulting our closest allies, America is not going to have any friends left.