Good morning and welcome back to The Wolf’s Den. Today is Juneteenth, a day that reminds us of both the worst and best of America. It is a reminder that this country has been capable of profound injustice, but also profound progress. America is imperfect, but the story of America has always been about whether we are willing to confront our failures and build something better.
To those celebrating Juneteenth, have a wonderful holiday.
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Unfortunately, right now, Donald Trump is dragging this country down a dangerous path.
Trump’s disastrous G7 trip is the latest example. We are watching America’s relationships with our closest allies deteriorate in real time, and the most stunning example may be what just happened with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Meloni is not some left-wing European leader looking for an excuse to criticize Trump. She is a conservative. She had been one of Trump’s closest ideological allies in Europe. And yet even she is now publicly pushing back after Trump reportedly claimed she had begged him for a photo and that he “felt sorry for her.”
Meloni fired back forcefully, making clear that neither she nor Italy “beg.” That is an extraordinary diplomatic rupture. It is also a perfect window into Trump’s greatest weakness: he treats allies like props and adversaries like partners.
This matters because foreign policy is not just about loud speeches or self-congratulatory press conferences. It is about relationships. It is about coalition-building. It is about convincing allies to stand with us when the stakes are highest.
And that is exactly where Trump keeps failing.
Look at Iran. Trump has spent years insisting that only he could bring peace and only he could deliver strength. But when the moment came, he did not build a strong coalition. He did not bring Europe along. He did not coordinate effectively with our partners. Instead, he tried to go it alone, fueled by ego, vanity, and the desperate need to declare victory before victory was actually secured.
Now we are seeing the consequences.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a mess. The Trump administration touted a memorandum of understanding with Iran as proof that the crisis was being resolved. But shipping remains disrupted, uncertainty is everywhere, and Iran is already tying the agreement to demands involving Israel and Lebanon. In other words, what Trump presented as a breakthrough is already looking fragile.
That is the difference between announcing peace and actually securing peace.
Donald Trump wants the headline. He wants the photo op. He wants to stand in front of cameras and claim that he alone solved the problem. But peace does not work that way. Diplomacy does not work that way. Global leadership does not work that way.
Joe Biden understood something Trump never has: America is strongest when we stand with our allies. Republicans mocked Biden constantly, pretending world leaders did not respect him. But behind the scenes, America’s allies knew Biden was steady, serious, and committed to the democratic world.
With Trump, the opposite is true. Our allies are exhausted. Our adversaries are emboldened. And America is increasingly isolated at the very moment we need strong partnerships the most.
That is not strength. That is failure.
The bottom line is simple: Trumpism may create chaos quickly, but it cannot build anything lasting. You cannot insult your allies, ignore your partners, mismanage a war, rush into a weak agreement, and then expect the world to treat you like a serious leader.
Trump promised strength. What he has delivered is humiliation, instability, and isolation.
America deserves better.
-Ethan
