As an American living in Europe, I have been surprised by the number of friends and acquaintances in the US who are angry at democratic nations across NATO, Europe, and the world for not agreeing to calls from President Trump to support his military operations against Iran. Their frustration is not simply because the US chose to attack Iran without consulting the nations it now expects to join its operations, such as helping to open the Strait of Hormuz. Their misunderstanding goes deeper than this.

Americans have ignored or failed to understand the many red flags raised about the collapse of checks and balances in the US, the demise of an independent free press, assaults on the nation’s universities and research, and the dismissal of 40 criminal charges against the President, the failure to sustain its support of Ukraine. They do not appreciate that the world has watched the administration appoint loyal friends, business associates, and other toadies — rather than experienced and competent individuals — to important positions, even within top ranks of the military.

Given these momentous shifts in American political practices and institutions, America can no longer claim the moral high ground on democracy, freedom of expression, or the global rules of international order, established by the USA after the Second World War. Since the Second World War, despite many missteps, the United States had earned a deserved reputation across the world as a liberal democracy that could be trusted. However, as an American living in Britain, let me say to my fellow Americans: you have rapidly lost that reputation.

In all of America’s military operations in 2026, there has been an effort to project strength. The rapid invasion of Venezuela seemed to energise the administration most dramatically. Likewise, joining Israel in a war on Iran gained attention across the world — though not necessarily by conveying strength. To many observers, the war on Iran, like the one launched in Venezuela, was defined as an illegal war of choice.

Americans do not seem to fully grasp the ways in which their current and former allies are increasingly viewing the US in a negative light — as a bad actor that cannot be trusted to defend the international rules of order that were essentially established by the US in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Iran is a stark example. By attacking Iran while it was already on the ropes — months after Israel and the US had destroyed the nation’s air defences and the facilities supporting its nuclear weapons programme — the two nations arguably began to recast Iran as a victim, rather than the dangerous actor it had been almost uniformly viewed as across the Western world.

How could America turn what was arguably one of the most dangerous actors in the Middle East into a victim of American and Israeli Goliaths? On the one hand, the military did project strength and resolve, and military leadership managed the brutal attacks on Iran well in the early days. On the other hand, the rhetoric, words, and antics of the President, Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, and Press Secretary Levitt helped accomplish the remarkable feat of turning the US from a good actor into a major threat to world order — a bad actor that could not be trusted. Hard as it is to believe, US rhetoric and actions are leading people to view the Iranian people and their leaders increasingly as the victims of an American bully. Unbelievable as it may seem, statements by Donald Trump, such as on his Truth Social platform, are questioned and even fact-checked by other sources, including references to official statements from Iranian officials.

Don’t take my word for it — consider how Europeans have described American rhetoric around the war on Iran. A former NATO commander referred to the administration as “gung-ho nutters” (Hyde 2026); others cited its “capricious authoritarian style” as contributing to the creation of a “moral mess” (Tett 2026). European journalists noted that the Secretary of Defense talked about “hunting” Iranians, and criticised the administration’s “callous and cruel” rhetoric — including the Secretary’s apparent desire to use the military to “kill as many people as possible” (Politi and Chávez 2026). Trump himself threatened Iran with possible war crimes if it did not, urging Tehran to “open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards”, which he posted on Truth Social.

In the post-war diplomatic era of the 1950s, Americans earned a reputation for being arrogant, ignorant, ethnocentric, and loud — the so-called “ugly Americans.” The degree to which the Trump administration is resurrecting that stereotype is truly remarkable and worrisome if not dangerous. With its reputation, so goes the nation’s soft power.

References

Hyde, M. (2026), ‘Spare a thought for the hawks who want in on the big bad war’, The Guardian, 7 March, p. 7.

Politi, J. and Chávez, S. (2026), ‘White House accused of going too far with fiery war rhetoric’, The Financial Times, 7 March, p. 3.

Tett, G. (2026), ‘Why Trump won’t clean up his own mess’, The Financial Times, 7 March, p. 13.