Burns: Trump Is ‘Abdicating American Leadership,’ ‘Siding with the Authoritarian Figures’

EXCERPT:

BURNS: "The existential battle right now in Europe is between the small democratic governments and these right wing democratic populists that have taken over the governments of Hungary and Poland and are inside the government of Italy. And the Europeans are convinced that Trump’s siding with the authoritarian figures because Trump has been praising them privately and publicly, the authoritarian leaders. He’s gone after Angela Merkel, there she is on the screen, big time. A vicious Twitter attack designed to bring her down. He’s been extremely critical of the West European democracies. You can’t imagine why an American president would act this way. I think it’s a radical revolution, if you add in leaving the Iran deal, leaving the Paris climate change deal. We had a power base as the most influential country in the world. He only sees trade imbalances and doesn't credit our allies with anything else. We’re at a critical moment. We do need political leaders to speak out about this, because I can’t believe that members of the Senate and House think this is all a good idea."