The “Goodwill Bank” has been around forever, but most people don’t give it a second thought, even though they may have spent a lifetime making deposits in their goodwill accounts. They do that by simply living good lives — through charity, kindness, fairness and the courage to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
In politics, the Goodwill Bank is sometimes more transactional, but that is not necessarily bad. If you have been loyal to your oath, if you have been truthful and honest and have done your best, and if you have kept your commitments and your word has been good, your goodwill account will be full.
In that case, when you stumble — as we all sometimes do — you can withdraw some of that goodwill, and good people will do what they can to help. They will even put themselves at risk if that is what it takes. But, if you have been deceitful and lived a self-serving life, you will have nothing to withdraw, and few will step up.
As President Donald Trump has looked for help with the mess he created in the Middle East, he has discovered he has nothing to withdraw from the Goodwill Bank. In fact, he is carrying a negative balance. It is starting to appear even America’s oldest friends have had enough of his insults and threats.
When it was reported during the first week of the war Great Britain was preparing an aircraft carrier for deployment to the Middle East to support Trump’s war, he told them not to bother. He posted on social media, “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Not long after that, apparently realizing the war had not been won, he insisted “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others” send ships to the Hormuz Strait because Iran has made the strait unsafe for oil tankers. But there has been no flotilla of ships rushing to the Middle East.
Sometimes it is hard to tell if Trump is genuinely ignorant of the truth or if he is purposefully lying. In 2024, he said, “I hate to tell you this about NATO. If we ever needed the help, let’s say we were attacked, I don’t believe they’d be there.”
After 9/11, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time ever, and NATO countries suffered over 1,100 casualties in support of the United States troops in Afghanistan. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte challenged Trump, telling him that “for every two Americans who paid the ultimate price there was one soldier from another NATO country who did not come back to his family.”
Their soldiers died for us, and Trump ignored their sacrifices. It is no wonder our friends — and some who may now be former friends thanks to Trump — are reluctant to bail him out.
Some of these countries will likely find symbolic ways to make it appear they are supporting the war, attempting to placate Trump. But the help you get out of fear is not the genuine help from a friend.
Trump’s problem is he has nothing to withdraw from his goodwill account, because he has never made any deposits. As one unnamed European official told Politico last week, “Leaders are well aware that it’s a one-way street with him, that they can no longer count on the U.S. the way they used to.”
