Editorial: Trump’s shallowness shows in remarks on Brexit

Sunday, July 3, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Among the many ways Donald Trump shows his weakness as a presidential candidate is his ignorance and clumsiness in matters of foreign policy and international relations. While his art of the deal may work for bankruptcies, he’s got no track record with foreign leaders and global affairs. On the world stage, he betrays himself embarrassingly as a rookie.

We got a glimpse of how Trump would represent us when he flew across the Pond to meet the press the morning after the United Kingdom voted to abandon the European Union, a post-war allegiance among nations to promote a shared economy and peaceful values. It was a stunning decision with far-reaching implications involving, among other issues, international commerce.

This might have been in Trump’s wheelhouse. So, how did he do? And what did it say about his mastery of international affairs in the context of his potential presidency?

Well, even before he uttered his first words at a press conference, Trump tweeted: “Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!”

Scotland did not, in fact, vote to leave the EU. The Scots voted by a nearly 2-1 margin to stay in the EU but were out-voted by the Brits. Oh, but how the Scots ridiculed Trump, who is half-Scottish. Imagine if he had been president.

Throughout the news conference, Trump congratulated the people of the U.K. for their decision to “take back their country,” one of his own themes. He said the same will happen in the United States, given “the fact that I’ve done so well in the polls.”

The most recent NBC News/Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll has Hillary Clinton leading Trump by 8 points — 49 percent to 41 percent.

And a Washington Post-ABC News poll, taken June 20-23, shows that if the election were held now, Clinton would get 51 percent of the vote to Trump’s 39 percent. The previous month’s poll found the two roughly neck-and-neck, indicating that the more Trump talks, the more his supporters realize he’d be unfit for the office.

Here’s what Trump said about the economic impacts of the Brexit vote: “You know, when the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly,” referring to the gold-plated seaside golf club where he hosted this press conference. When there is global financial anxiety, leave it to Trump to see what’s in it for him.

Is this the advice Trump’s advisers gave while en route to Scotland — to gloat about capitalizing on a nation’s economic confusion? Trump said this of his advisers: “Well, I’ve been in touch with them, but there’s nothing to talk about. ... You know, they’re advisers, they’re like everybody else. They probably know less, every one of these advisers.”

So he would be a president with no foreign policy experience who rejects the counsel of his own advisers.

That’s comforting.

Throughout his session with reporters, Trump remarked on the members of his golf club. “I have so many members here, hundreds and hundreds of members sitting in the back,” he said at one point, “and I’ve spoken to them and they’re not happy with the people flowing into the country. They don’t want that to happen.”

On the tough days to come, Trump said (with a straight face): “They want to have wage increases. For members — and all of my members at Turnberry, I mean, we’ve had hard-working, great people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years.” Indeed, Turnberry green fees can’t be cheap. But still, Trump crows, “My members are very happy with Donald Trump, I can tell you. Is that a correct statement? They love Donald Trump.”

A reporter said: “The country is not a golf course.”

Trump answered: “It’s not.”

This is how Donald Trump behaves on the world stage, and we are flabbergasted that some think he is qualified to represent the United States of America.