By passing up the opportunity to shock the globe by keeping America in the Paris climate accord Donald Trump has, once and for all, surrendered any claim he might have had to being "the leader of the free world".
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By putting his own political interests ahead of those of the rest of the planet and falling dramatically out of step with the leadership of every other major country on earth he has proved he is not cut out to fill the shoes of predecessors such as Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Obama.
We are seeing far more leadership right now from people such as Germany's Angela Merkel, Canada's Justin Trudeau and even relative newcomer, France's Emmanuel Macron than the so-called most powerful man on earth.
The resignations of major business leaders, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and Disney CEO, Bob Iger, from key presidential economic councils over the Paris decision must also have sent a signal to the White House that there will be consequences on the home front as well.
President Trump, whose stream of consciousness flood of incoherent tweets made him a laughing stock when he misspelt "coffee" as "covfefe" this week and then didn't fiinish his thought bubble, is even bucking the wishes of the vast majority of American voters.
One recent poll found support for staying in the Paris Accord in the U.S. was running at five-to-one and rising.
It has been suggested Mr Trump is flying in the face of popular opinion for the simple reason that if he alienates his rusted on nationalist and populist "deplorables" support base he is done for.
Sticking with Paris would not have won him any votes from left wingers who would have voted Democrat in any case. By honouring his election promise to pull out the President has kept faith with the people who put him in the White House.
With the U.S. midterm elections due in 2018 it was, even for Mr Trump, literally a "no-brainer".
While the majority of world leaders are confident the agreement, intended to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 per cent by 2050, will survive the departure of the U.S., there is no doubt they are now considering America in a very different light to 12 months ago.
Mr Trump's unpredictability, his refusal to honour key international agreements such as this and a capacity for faux pas on a global scale are sidelining his nation as a force for good in world affairs.
Given the increasing likelihood he may not be able to serve out a full term given the investigations into the U.S. election that are now in progress, Mr Trump is at risk of being treated like an unexpected spell of inclement weather by his peers.
Other world leaders would be wise to batten down the hatches with a view to resuming normal relations with America once this particular squall has passed.
