Rest of world watches US turmoil with growing alarm

livemint.com:

LONDON : The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, coming so soon after President Biden’s stumbles during the recent presidential debate, is reinforcing an impression outside the U.S. that the world’s pre-eminent superpower is entering an unusually turbulent and unpredictable period, prompting allies to question its reliability and foes to gloat.

The images of a bloodied Trump being rushed from the stage captured global attention, and for many painted a picture of an America increasingly at odds with itself—a country that has a strong economy but a dysfunctional and dangerously divided political landscape. In foreign capitals around the globe, the attempted killing of Trump and Biden’s repeated gaffes have changed the political and diplomatic calculus, sending many governments scrambling to prepare for a second Trump presidency as the most likely scenario, due to growing voter concerns about Biden’s mental fitness and a likely groundswell of sympathy for Trump following the failed attempt.

One British newspaper columnist said Trump was now “unstoppable." A report Monday by South Korean brokerage Eugene Investment & Securities was titled “Trump’s Rise and Biden’s Fall," and featured side-by-side photos of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist on Saturday and Biden’s stumble at a U.S. Air Force Academy event last year.

The assassination attempt, alongside the debate about President Biden’s age, has also given new life to Russia’s favorite foreign-policy narrative: America’s supposed precipitous decline. Top Russian officials on Sunday talked about the “suicidal supposed condition" of American democracy, predicting that the country was on the brink of a civil war.