"Global Astonishment"

It was a beautiful yesterday in Malaga. A day to be out in the country with friends and some of our students. In a relaxed moment after lunch (stewed wild boar!) one friend, an older woman who is clearly conservative in her political views, asked me casually "What's with Trump? That man is not well." I get asked this on a daily basis. Rejection of Trump in Spain is near universal. (Now, we know we can't give too much credence to polls, but one survey taken right around the time of the election showed his support among Spaniards at 3%. It gives you a notion.) Spain, of course, is by no means unique. The top headline of one of Spain's major dailies, El País, at this moment (Monday, January 30, early a.m.) is "Trump Sticks to Migratory Veto in Spite of Judicial Setbacks and Global Astonishment." I was struck by the phrase "global astonishment" ("estupor global" in the original). A more literal translation would be, of course, "stupor" or "stupefaction". That seems to capture quite well the feeling here and no doubt around the globe: people really are feeling stupefied. The world has been turned upside down, with the United States of America projecting itself to all as a place of intolerance, xenophobia, and cowardice. It is disheartening, to say the least. The damage Trump has done in one brief week to US standing in the world is, yes, stupefying. On Spanish state TV (in theory independent of government meddling, but in reality reflective of the current conservative government) it is already normal to hear reporters use the adjectives "totalitarian" and "dictatorial" when reporting about Trump. That is not an alternative fact.
While signing his most recent, and for now most notorious, executive order, Trump said, "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people." (Awkward! And bizarre, to say the least.) By signing that order he immediately insured that the millions of visitors from all over the world who are not affected by this ridiculous policy will be much less inclined to "love deeply our people." Trump, of course, is oblivious to this. In a few hours I will be interviewing students from the University of Málaga who have applied for a scholarship to spend next year at Dickinson College. Will they be as enthusiastic as in years past?