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Americans have been earning a bad reputation overseas since World War One. The problem today, is far worse than ever. The actions of America’s deeply ignorant politicians and corporations have created an enormous sense of resentment toward US citizens, and those same actions place Americans in danger when traveling abroad.

Sadly, the average American, particularly those who venture to other parts of the world as civilians, have almost nothing to do with their nation's state of affairs. But that doesn’t change their situation at all, and increasing numbers of Americans are placing Canadian flags on their luggage just to toss the scent.

Certainly, the fact that the US government was the last major power to end slavery brought resentment upon the yanks in the 19th Century, but it was in the first world war, when the United States demanded that France segregate their Black soldiers from their White soldiers, the country defined its sense of identity for the 20th Century.

Americans who complain about the way they are treated in Paris, generally know little to nothing about their nation’s role in building the ranks of racial divide and segregation in France. In fact, in all fairness, most Parisians probably don’t know the details, but stories are handed down generation by generation in Europe and the basic idea, that in their hearts, Americans represent something unfair and dangerous to humanity, never died away.

The role of the United States in increasing racism in France did not end at the conclusion of the so-called Great War. American veterans, particularly those of wealth and means, loved to bring their families to France during the 1920’s for vacation. Those same Americans demanded that popular Paris restaurants also refuse to employee and serve Black people.

World War Two was a saving grace for the reputation of Americans. I mean if you ignore the fire bombings of Dresden and other German and Japanese cities, and the atomic bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you find that Americans in many ways, brought the war to a much swifter end and committed fewer war crimes than the Germans and Russians, in particular.

Then came anti-Communist paranoia and the McCarthy era. That sadly has become the American way. Whether it is Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, Native Americans, Communists or Persian and Arab people.

One modern American who has made a difference is Keith Reinhard, who served as President of Business for Diplomatic Action, Inc. (BDA) from 2002 to 2010. The non-profit BDA exists to improve the reputation of Americans throughout the world.

On their Website, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy said of their mission, (they)“implemented a number of programs credited with building new bridges of understanding and respect between the United States and the world.”

Reinhard offered testimony to U.S. Congress in an effort to build better relations.

An article in the Washington Post explains that one of the group’s efforts was to publish a pair of "World Citizens" guides. “The first is for students who travel and study abroad... And 300 colleges and universities have now put these in the hands of kids who are planning to study abroad…“

Has Donald Trump’s Presidency soiled the American reputation so completely that it can never be fixed? Has his raucous, offensive manner brought an end to the hope of the United States reemerging in the world as a true guardian of peace?

It has been a long time since Americans operated for the betterment of the world. During the 1980’s, the United States laid systematic waste to political administrations throughout Central and South America, waging coup d'etat’s against any government that had a hint of Socialism or Communism.

Of course the US and Britain conspired in a coup d'etat to remove the Prime Minister of Iran in 1953, Mohammad Mosaddegh. He is remembered for quotes like, "The moral aspect of oil nationalization is more important than its economic aspect." Mossadegh was Time Magazine's "Man of the year" and in Time's January, 1951 edition, his face was on the cover. With a Western education and a genuine sense of human morality, he sought to improve the way of life for the people of Iran by taking back control of his own nation's oil.

After he nationalized Iran's oil, which is the reason the West had him taken out of power, he said, "Yes, my sin — my greater sin and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire. This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property. With God's blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism. "

After Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was removed from power, the US replaced him with the "Shah", a western friendly politician named Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was a cruel ally and puppet of the US, who ensured that Iran would continue being gutted for oil by the west at ridiculously cheap prices which did nothing for the betterment of Iran or its citizens. having its oil remain far below its value for the west.

Iran continually remains in the sights of both Israel and the US, continually accused of building a nuclear bomb. The propaganda from people like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, only continues due to an obedient nature of the US media that refuses to acknowledge the fact that Israel possesses hundreds of illegal, undeclared nuclear warheads that were created with US help at the Dimona Weapons Factory, which today is called the Negev Nuclear Research Center.

The Main Reason People Hate Americans

It’s no secret in this world that Americans kill people in other parts of the world wholesale. Wars are declared over falsified information, like the so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which the Bush Administration, more than any group on the face of this earth, knew did not exist.

Then you have continuing US support of the world’s most unpunished and yet severe purveyor of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Israel. Of course the polar opposite of Israel is Saudi Arabia, with it’s own version of Islam called Wahhabism, that is a threat to every decent person on earth. Everything that Americans have been conditioned to hate and fear about Islam, begins in Saudi Arabia, and is defined by the practices of that nation with it’s regular slew of cultural barbarities like weekly beheadings in city squares across the country. People are beheaded publicly, but it gets worse...

The Atlantic carried an article about Saudi Arabia's beheading and consequent crucifixion of a man, a crucifixion! - "A group of U.N. experts has joined rights groups in calling on Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a Shiite man convicted of crimes reportedly committed as a teenager during protests inspired by the Arab Spring.

"Ali al-Nimr, the nephew of firebrand Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, faces execution by beheading and an additional rare punishment of 'crucifixion,' which means publicly displaying the body after death as a warning to others, according to Saudi state media."

US ally Saudi Arabia, who Donald Trump promised "a very good deal" to on a recent military weapons and arms purchase, does not allow defendants to have defense lawyers, and many times the country has denied language translators to people being tried for drug crimes. Lest we forget that Shia activists are sentenced to death, according to Delphine Lourtau, research director at Cornell Law School’s Death Penalty Worldwide.

The Guardian says Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, more than 60 more people than the year before.. In 2016, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people in a single day.

These are America’s partners in crime, and that statement is quite serious. The crimes against humanity in Yemen committed by Saudi forces are some of the most foul this world has seen.

Only time will tell what happens to the reputation of Americans and the perceptions of US travelers abroad. The Trump legacy is not one that will be lived down any time soon, because the world really is a stage and Trump is one performer whose modus operandi is unmistakable.

*(Image credit: Thomas Hawk/ flickr).