If there's a such thing as a glutton for punishment in foreign affairs, look no further than Gustavo Petro, the radical leftwing president of Colombia.

Petro got a fresh smackdown from President Trump on Sunday, following his stunt to woo a departing U.S. admiral to Cartagena, Colombia, to be his 'advisor,' and phony claims that a semisubmersible speedboat taken out by the U.S. Navy on a drug mission contained only innocent Colombian 'fishermen.' After that, he called on Colombian workers in the U.S. to go on 'strike.'

Trump had had enough of his guff and posted this on his Truth Social account as reproduced here:

He said this:

Then Petro made this simpering reply, all full of flapdoodle:

Grok Translate:

Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the USA; on the contrary, it has greatly admired its culture. But you are rude and ignorant toward Colombia. Read, as your chargé d'affaires in Colombia did, *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, and he assured you that you will learn something about solitude. I don't do business, like you do; I am a socialist, I believe in aid and the common good and in the common goods of humanity, the greatest of all: life, put in danger by your oil. If I am not a merchant, then much less a drug trafficker; in my heart there is no greed. I could never get along with greed. A mafioso is a human being who embodies the best of capitalism: greed, and I am the opposite, a lover of life and therefore a millennial warrior for life. Greed flees from us, because life is more powerful.

It's a repulsive reply, all full of backtalk and irresponsibility. He wanted this confrontation, longed to be in a mixup with Trump to boost his own political fortunes and Trump has been ignoring him.

He still doesn't understand Trump very well, and doesn't seem to think he's in a world of trouble. While U.S. aid to Colombia has been cut 75% in the past year, there's still the 25% he gets which will go, too, and that will sting. 

What should really bother him is that as Trump continues to pursue his drug war to take out narcodictator Maduro next door in Venezuela, it grows increasingly clear that Colombia's drug lords will have to go, too, and that will strike at the heart of Petro's political operation, which has been repeatedly reported as in league or alliance with drug lords. That will put Petro in the crossfire, too. 

And it couldn't be more welcome. Let the truth come out about Petro's involvement in the drug trade, too.

Image: Grok, ai-generated illustration