View from there: World averts gaze from Trump impeachment

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Presidential impeachment: Clinton, Johnson, Nixon test U.S. democracy Presidents have been impeached, but none have been removed from office due to impeachment. Confusing? Here's how.

LONDON – The 45th U.S. president may have become just the third White House occupant in American history to be impeached late Wednesday, but the tone of the global reaction from Mexico to Iran was notable for another reason: there wasn't any.

World leaders and senior diplomatic figures appear to be staying out of it.

President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on charges he abused his power by applying pressure on Ukraine for political gain and then obstructed an investigation by Congress.

The move now sets up a trial in the Senate, where the Republicans have a majority.

While Trump is unlikely to be removed from office, it threatens to define his tenure. Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were also impeached. Both were later acquitted by the Senate, while Richard Nixon resigned before a vote by the full House.

Pathway of the impeachment process: How it works, where we are

Yet there was little immediate international reaction to Trump's impeachment for a U.S. leader who has already upended the U.S.'s relationship with much of the world by casting doubt on longstanding alliances from the G-7 to NATO, pulled out of global climate and nuclear accords and generally treated foes like friends, and vice versa.

On the day of the vote, Iran's state media noted it was happening and that the debate was sharply drawn along politically partisan lines, but has not commented since.

Speaking during a meeting with Iranian expatriates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that his country’s nuclear experts are testing a new type of advanced centrifuges. He didn't mention Trump's impeachment.

There was no official mention of it in North Korea or China, where state media often look for opportunities to bash American officials and leaders. However, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post noted Beijing officials may be concerned impeachment will be a distraction from Trump's China trade talks. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, fresh from a spat with Trump at a NATO meeting in London where he was recorded apparently making fun of the U.S. president, has not brought it up.

Nor has Brazil's leader controversial leader Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing firebrand who has wooed Trump with excessive flattery and the promise of U.S. military bases.

"Brazil is deeply polarized and seized with the daily dramas of their own president," said Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based think tank. "A majority of Brazilians shrug their shoulders when asked about Trump's impeachment."

Officials in Ukraine, which is at the center of the impeachment proceedings, have been avoiding talking about what's unfolding in Washington for weeks, fearful of being seen as a pawn in a U.S. political process. They maintained their silence Thursday.

Markets barely moved after the three-month inquiry by the House ended.

There was also no word from Saudi Arabia, where the government is close to Trump.

Analysis:For Trump and Pelosi, impeachment will shape their legacies, their futures

"Trump is Saudi Arabia's biggest defender. Authorities there will view impeachment as betting on the wrong horse," said Ali Al-Ahmed, a Saudi-born scholar and expert on the kingdom's political affairs who runs the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Gulf Affairs, a think tank. "Domestically, they will seem foolish," he added.

Still, while Trump is not the first American leader to show deference to Saudi Arabia, he has arguably done more for Riyadh than other U.S. administrations, including aggressively siding with it as a bulwark against Iran and overlooking its poor record on human rights, not least its killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-resident journalist and Saudi critic, in its consulate in Turkey. When a member of the Saudi military earlier this month killed three people and injured seven others when he opened fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Trump repeatedly said the Saudis were "devastated."

Britain stayed silent. So did France. And the European Union. There were few media hot takes out of India or South Korea or other places where Trump is closely watched. Most newspapers from Mexico to Spain ran straightforward news stories on the vote.

Peter Bayer, a German politician who is a close associate of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a member of her ruling Christian Democratic Union party, said that Germans have been closely watching the impeachment proceedings in Washington.

"The U.S. is our most important friend and ally outside Europe," he said.

But Michael Wohlgemuth, a German-born expert on European political affairs at the Foundation for Economic Governance and Public Law in nearby Lichtenstein, said he believes most Germans will be happy to see Trump impeached.

"Trump is most unpopular in Germany. Only 10% of Germans trust the American president – compared to 35% who actually trust (Russia's) Vladimir Putin. This is no expression of engrained anti-Americanism, but a most damning verdict on the person himself. After all, 86% of Germans used to trust in the leadership of President Obama."

In Moscow, President Putin briefly touched on Trump's impeachment during his annual marathon end-of-year news conference, saying that the impeachment was far-fetched and "just the continuation of the domestic political strife." Putin predicted that the Senate would reject it. Russia's leader has previously made similar remarks.

What's next?: All eyes on the Senate after House votes to impeach Donald Trump

One place where Trump's impeachment could be expected to resonate strongly is Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting his own battle for political survival after two inconclusive elections and indictment for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Gilead Sher, previously chief of staff in former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government, said that Trump's impeachment and Netanyahu's indictment "reflect both societies' rejection of moral turpitude and solidify the rule of law."

Although like Trump, Netanyahu is not in any immediate danger of being removed from office. Israel's next election is expected to take place in March.

Foreign Policy magazine noted in a recent article that when Clinton faced the prospect of impeachment in the fall of 1998, world leaders and envoys attending the United Nations General Assembly debate welcomed him with a standing ovation.

More:Trump's Senate trial likely to be more partisan than Bill Clinton's was in 1999

"Today, President Donald Trump’s appearance on the world stage is more likely to inspire raised eyebrows, mocking asides and sniggering laughs in response to his over-the-top acts of self-promotion," the article said.

But Trump may have the last laugh.

Katie Baylis, a spokesperson for British bookmaker Betfair Exchange, said that because Trump’s impeachment was not a surprise the odds of his reelection in 2020 shortened overnight. "It seems nothing can touch him ... at this stage," she said.