European Leaders Fume Trump Makes It Hard to Have ‘Good Relationship’ With US After His Davos Jabs: CNN Report

European leaders were disgusted with President Donald Trump blasting their continent for not being “recognizable” and for taking jabs at politicians like French President Emmanuel Macron during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to CNN’s international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Robertson joined Inside Politics with Dana Bash on Wednesday to discuss Trump’s speech from earlier in the day. Host Dana Bash asked how Trump’s comments were “received” by European leaders.

“Negatively, hugely negatively,” Robertson told her.

He pointed to Trump “chiding” Macron for wearing Top Gun-style sunglasses to cover up a burst blood vessel in his right eye. Trump joked they were “beautiful” and asked, “What the hell happened?” The light ribbing came after Macron poked fun at Trump’s claim that he has ended eight wars during his speech on Tuesday.

Robertson said Trump’s “very personal attacks” towards Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer irritated European leaders.

“This really sort of undermines any sort of political maneuverability for a prime minister or a president in any of these countries to be able to have a strong relationship with the United States — or particularly with President Trump at this time,” Robertson said. “Because politically it doesn’t play well for them.”

Robertson said Euro leaders are being “berated at home” for not standing up to Trump — and his latest barbs didn’t help matters.

His report comes after Trump told the Davos crowd that Europe was unrecognizable due to migration.

“I don’t want to insult anybody and say I don’t recognize it,” Trump said. “And that’s not a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe and I want to see Europe do good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”

Robertson — who was reporting from Greenland — said Europeans and Greenlanders don’t see their countries the same way Trump does.

“People here and in Europe don’t recognize what the president is saying —  in the same way perhaps people in Washington, D.C., didn’t recognize the Washington, D.C. that the president was describing last summer,” Robertson said.

He added, “There’s a huge disconnect in the realities that the president puts across and the realities that the people in those places actually live in. That doesn’t create political space for European leaders to have a good relationship with this White House.”

Shortly after CNN’s report, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Euro leaders were “shaken up” because Trump is a “man of his word” and plans to follow through on his Greenland ambitions.

Watch above via CNN.

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