That America would become an international joke should Trump win the presidency.

The New York Times, writing in 2000, stated that George W Bush was almost the perfect candidate for the White House, given that he possessed the honesty of Reagan, the evasiveness of Clinton and a propensity to say stupid things only surpassed by George Bush Snr. When the following year Mr Bush became president, the Times was forced into an undignified retreat from that position, or else be labelled 'un-american.'

Whilst all of this is going on, the rest of the world looks on bemused. If President Obama has brought an air of credibility and indeed decency back to the oval office, certainly amongst international observers, the emergence of Donald Trump has brought back into sharp relief the nature of the American political system. Who would have imagined that policies of small-mindedness, bigotry, sexism and religious prejudice could get you so far with the US electorate? Internationally, the rise of Tea Party politics was met with raised eyebrows, but often dismissed out of hand; nobody thought Sarah Palin represented an electable commander in chief. Trump cannot so easily be discarded. It is with a rising sense of alarm and no small amount of incredulity that observers in London, Paris and others chart the rise of the mantra 'Let's make America great again', as if all this time the US has been some passive observer of the rest of the world, politely subservient and unassuming. 

To conclude, allow me to quote this journalist from New Zealand, who summarised the feelings of many with this:

Farny points to the fact that the US has already chosen in the past to elect an idiot; George W Bush in 2001. This is true, although it should be noted that Bush had reasonably high popularity in the polls before taking office. He was, after all, the son of a former President and a graduate of Law. It was only later that we all realised how little was going on between his ears.

And what was the upshot of Bush's tenure? An Ipsos Mori poll conducted in 2006 found that overwhelmingly within the international community the US's 'stock' had been eroded. Placed 14th in investible nations (down 12), 19th in global security (down 14), 31st in trustable government (down 11) and an astonishingly 42nd in faith in Prime Minister/President (down 38). These were not just arbitrary numbers. With Bush at the helm, international trade decreased, foreign investment decreased, international relations stagnated. The US's oldest ally, the United Kingdom, also started to withdraw, with a survey indicating over 80% of UK voters deemed the US president to be 'unfit for office'.

As divisive a character as Bush was, surely it pales into irrelevance compared to one Donald Trump. Already multiple countries have banned Trump from travelling there, not least the Muslim nations he was so quick to insult. The UK is currently holding a parliamentary debate to establish whether or not there is grounds for also banning Trump on charges of incitement of racial hatred or bias. Can any of you imagine the loss of credibility the US would suffer if their own President was banned from entering other nations before even taking office? 

Should Trump become president, every misplaced comment, every slur or nasty insult, would come back to haunt him. He would represent every man woman and child in America, and that is not a pretty thought.