Ex-Trump adviser says US seen as ‘object of pity’ by other countries

President Trump’s former Russia adviser Fiona Hill said Tuesday that the U.S. is “increasingly” seen as an “object of pity” by other countries. 

Hill, who was a witness in Trump’s impeachment hearings, was asked on CNN by Jim Sciutto whether the U.S. was still seen as “the model that it once was for foreign populations and foreign leaders.”

“Unless we get our domestic act together, no,” Hill answered.

The former Trump adviser told CNN that the United States’ domestic issues are what’s “really eroding our standing.”

“We are increasingly seen as an object of pity including by our allies because they are so shocked about what’s happening internally, how we’re eating ourselves alive with our divisions,” she said. 

“We’re the ones who are creating all this,” she added. “It’s not the Russians or the Chinese or anyone else. We are doing this to ourselves.”

She cited that foreign countries are forming this opinion based on the “bungled handling of COVID, on top of race relations and on top of our political polarization and the spectacles that we’re presenting to the outside world is what’s really pushing all of this.”

A Pew Research Center survey of 13 countries released last week reflects Hill’s comments and shows that the United States’ reputation decreased among its allies this year, with part of the drop being attributed to its coronavirus pandemic response.

The U.S. has recorded more cases and deaths than any other country, with more than 6.8 million confirmed cases and more than 200,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.