A former Republican congressman lamented President Donald Trump's "rupture" of the global order established at the end of World War II.
The 79-year-old president has threatened NATO allies Denmark and Canada and angered European Union nations and other trade partners with his tariffs, and former GOP lawmaker Charlie Dent told "CNN This Morning" that he agreed with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, who warned that Trump's second presidency signaled the end of a rules-based order.
"What's at stake is the worldorder, and what is stunning to methat the United States of America led this world order," Dent said. "Wehelped create it, we developedit with our friends andpartners. We made Europe abetter place, peaceful,prosperous and whole after twoworld wars. This is an insult tothe greatest generation thatfought so hard to make make thisworld a better place, preventinggreat power conflict, and now weare throwing it all away – towhat end? It is insane."
"As the Canadian prime minister Carneyjust said, this is a rupture," Dent said. "This is not a transition. Therewill be consequences to thiscountry economically,geopolitically, they're hedgingagainst us. All these middlepowers, and they don't, theythey're de-risking from the United States as well as China.I mean, this is where we are."
The former congressman said the president's moves made no sense from a strategic standpoint.
"Youknow, the president is not usingtariffs to deal with unfairtrade practices," Dent said. "He's usingtariffs to coerce and bullyother countries into animperialistic territorialexpansion of the United States.I mean, this is insane."