President Barack Obama admitted that world leaders were “surprised” and “rattled” by the political rise of Donald Trump.
“I think it’s fair to say that they are surprised by the Republican nominee. They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements, but they’re rattled by him, and for good reason,” he said. “Because a lot of the proposals that he’s made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude or an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe and secure and prosperous and what is required to keep the world on an even keel.”
Obama made his remarks during a press conference held in Japan at the G7 summit. He said that it was clear that world leaders were paying close attention to the election, because of the country’s position in the world.
“The United States, as I said before, is at the heart of the international order,” he said.
Even countries that didn’t like the U.S., he explained, knew that the world was in trouble if Americans were not providing stability in the world.
“The world pays attention to U.S. elections. They pay more attention to our elections sometimes than we pay to theirs,” he said.