The G-20 summit was recently held in New Delhi, India, hosted by its Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was attended by both the wealthiest and developing nations (the top 20 economies). On the summit’s agenda were pressing global issues such as but not limited to climate change, world hunger and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Of course President Biden was in attendance, but conspicuously absent were Russia’s Putin and China’s Jinping.

Most assuredly what was on the minds of the summit’s leaders is our 2024 presidential election. They cringe at the possibility of a Trump victory. In my view they have good reason for such a reaction. A Trump win would shatter the internationalist approach (engaging on the world stage, reestablishing and strengthening our global alliances) that President Biden has pursued in favor of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy that could upend our old and new alliances, likely turning our friends into foes, foes into friends. Instead of all eyes looking to America for leadership, Trump’s national inward-directed policy stance would leave a huge void on the world stage that could quite possibly be filled by an adversary.

Remember, when Trump was president, he warmly cozied up to dictators. He described his relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong un as a “love affair” while insulting democratically elected leaders of Canada, France and Germany. Last month he said of Russian President Putin, the West’s longtime adversary: “I was the apple of his eye.” Trump is so full of himself he thinks he has undue influence over these murderous monsters when in fact they play him like a fiddle. Trump’s former national security advisor, John Bolton, who was always by his side on visits abroad, said as much. Trump, in the recent past, even uttered admiration for China’s Xi Jinping for the way he ruled 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. It is quite clear Trump, a wannabe dictator himself, has this kindred connection with authoritarian rulers. Trump’s past treasonous actions defying representational democracy and trashing the constitutional principles of governance, viewing them as power constraints, unquestionably affirms that kindred spirit.