To say that this presidential election season has been like no other is an understatement.
That's why it's not surprising that the eyes of the world have been on the United States and our candidates for commander-in-chief. But what do leaders across the globe really think about our crazy campaign?
Some world leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have taken the evasive route, refraining from commenting directly on the election. Others have no problem letting the rest of us know exactly how they feel — especially regarding Donald Trump's candidacy.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have condemned the Republican candidate and his divisive rhetoric. Meanwhile, right-wing leaders, such as Marine Le Pen, of France's National Front Party, and Matteo Salvini, of Italy's Northern League Party, have praised the GOP nominee.
Ahead, find out who really admires Hillary Clinton, who thinks Trump is stupid or "barking mad," and who believes that some of this election's proposals have not been Christian enough.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
“I don’t want to wade into the American debate,” she said in July. “I’m following it with interest. I’ll just wait for the vote result.”
Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
"He is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that," Putin said about Trump during a press conference last December. "He is an absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it today. He says that he wants to move to another level of relations, to a deeper level of relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome it."
Photo: Jussi Nukari/REX/Shutterstock.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
"I have great faith in the American people, and look forward to working with whoever gets elected in November," he said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last March.
Photo: Broadimage/REX/Shutterstock.
Nigel Farage, Interim Leader of the Far-Right UK Independence Party
"I think for the United Kingdom, Trump will be better for us than Barack Obama's been, of that there’s no doubt," Farage told CNN in June. “Donald Trump dares to talk about things that other people want to brush under the carpet."
Photo: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May
"I think we all agree that the comments Donald Trump made in relation to Muslims were divisive, unhelpful, and wrong," she said last December, referring to Trump's proposed Muslim ban.
Photo: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan
“Conservative tacticians thought those sorts of tactics would win London and they were wrong. I’m confident that Donald Trump’s approach to politics won’t win in America,” he said in an interview with Time published last May.
Photo: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock.
Pope Francis
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” he said about Trump in February.
Photo: Maria Laura Antonelli/AGF/REX/Shutterstock.
Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
He called Trump "ignorant" after the candidate demanded the release of Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the CIA search for Osama bin Laden.
"The government and not Mr. Donald Trump" would decide the fate of Afridi, Khan said in a statement.
He added, "Pakistan is not a colony of the United States of America. "He should learn to treat sovereign nations with respect."
Photo: B.K. Bangash/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Bill Shorten, L eader of Australia's Labor Party
"I think Donald Trump's views are just barking mad on some issues," Shorten said in May. "America's a great friend of Australia; whoever they dish up we'll work with, but wow, Trump's sort of… It's sort of the ultimate victory of celebrity politics."
Photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/REX/Shutterstock.
Gavin Newlands, U.K. Parliament Member
“Let's be clear, Donald Trump is an idiot. I have tried to find different, perhaps more parliamentary adjectives to describe him, but none was clear enough. He is an idiot," he said, according to The Washington Post.
Photo: LESLEY MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images.
Kim Jong Un, North Korean Leader
A North Korean government propaganda website called Trump a "wise politician" and "a prescient presidential candidate." It also referred to Hillary Clinton as "thick-headed Hillary," Reuters reported.
Photo: Wong Maye-E/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen
“Trump is completely unpredictable. It would be much, much more difficult to work with the U.S. because you’d never know what he will believe tomorrow,” Jensen said during an interview last March. “He changes opinions like the rest of us change underwear.”
Photo: AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg
"A lot of what Donald Trump says makes for a more unstable world," she said in the summer. "I hope this is part of local election campaigning, and not what he will do if he is in office. He has said on a lot of topics different things, so we will see which Donald Trump he becomes."
Photo: Isopix/REX/Shutterstock.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto
"There have been episodes in human history, unfortunately, where these expressions of this strident rhetoric have only led to very ominous situations in the history of humanity," he said when speaking of Trump during an interview last March. "That's how Mussolini got in, that's how Hitler got in — they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis. And I think what (they) put forward ended up at what we know today from history, in global conflagration. We don't want that happening anywhere in the world."
Photo: Hector Vivas/LatinContent/Getty Images.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
"What about that Donald Trump, huh? Once he's your president, you'll wish you'd been friendlier to me," he reportedly said to Delaware Sen. Chris Coons during a conversation in which Mugabe talked about the U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe for human-rights infractions.
Photo: Richard Drew/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
"A successful politician would not make such statement, as there are millions of Muslims living in the U.S," Erdogan said of Trump's proposed Muslim ban, according to The Washington Post.
Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Jimmie Akesson, Leader of the Far-Right Sweden Democrats
"He is very good at making speeches, but as a politician and a world leader? No, I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” he said of Trump in November 2015.
Photo: Michael Campanella/Getty Images.
Keizo Takemi, Japanese Parliament Member
“Only Hillary Clinton can be our hope and continue the very important role of the U.S. being a key player for peace and development in this region," he said, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images.
Matteo Salvini, L eader of Italy's Right-Wing Northern League Party
In a series of tweets, Salvini said he preferred the “legality and security” of a Trump administration over the “disastrous” policies imposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama.
Photo: Federico Ferramola/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock.
French President Francois Hollande
“If the Americans choose Trump, that will have consequences, because an American election is a world election,” he said in August.
He added, "His excesses make you want to retch, even in the United States, especially when — as was Donald Trump’s case — he speaks ill of a soldier, of the memory of a soldier,” referring to Trump's comments on the Khan family.
Photo: NIVIERE/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
When asked if he was worried that Trump lacked experience dealing with foreign policy affairs, he made no distinctions between the GOP nominee and previous presidential candidates.
"Who had this experience before? Obama? Or George Bush? Or [Bill] Clinton before? None of them had any experience," he told NBC News. "This is the problem with the United States."
He added that spending a "few years" in Congress or dealing with foreign affairs doesn't really count either.
Photo: AY-COLLECTION/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock.
Ann Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris
When asked about Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., she answered, "Mr. Trump is so stupid, my god."
Photo: Zacharie Scheurer/ AP Photo.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Member of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family
"You [Trump] are a disgrace, not only to the GOP, but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S. presidential race as you will never win," he tweeted last December.
Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images.
Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
"If Donald Trump was to end up as president of the United States, I think we better head for the bunkers," he tweeted in August 2015.
Photo: IBL/REX/Shutterstock.
Liana Kanelli, Greek Parliament Member
"I mean, what the hell is the personality of someone voting for him? And on the other hand, I think there must be a lot of men like Clinton in the states, that they would like to have a lady in their life like Hillary. She can absorb any marital or other problem," she said, according to PBS.
Photo: George Baboukos/InTime News/REX/Shutterstock.
Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga
“I don’t know if the Republicans have a policy on Africa. If they have it, I did not hear it,” he said, according to Newsweek .
He added, “It is our hope that the next president of the U.S., together with the E.U. and Britain, will support democracy in word and in deed. The West must show an incredible support for civil society and the rule of law, accountability, human rights, and free and fair elections if the march of democracy is to be guaranteed.”
Photo: Ben Curtis/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Marine Le Pen, Leader of France's Right-Wing National Front Party
"If I were American, I would vote for anybody but Hillary Clinton," she said in June. "Between him and Hillary Clinton, obviously I would choose Donald Trump."
She added, "What appeals to Americans is that [Trump] is a man liberated from Wall Street, from markets and from financial lobbies, and even from his own party."
Photo: Michel Euler/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega
In July 2015, Ortega accused Trump of reflecting "the ultraconservative, racist, and war-like thinking that is incubated in the roots of the empire."
Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
"It is so clumsy, his discourse, so base, that it would spark reaction in Latin America," Correa said, according to CBS News.
When asked about Clinton, he added, "For the benefit of the United States, for world peace, obviously a person like Hillary Clinton is far superior. I admire Hillary Clinton very much."
Photo: Unkel/ullstein bild/ Getty Images.
Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Mexican F oreign Affairs Secretary
“When an apple’s red, it is red. When you say ignorant things, you’re ignorant," she said in February, referring to Trump.
She added, “It is impossible to think of a 2,000-mile border being walled off, and trade between our two countries stopped. It is impractical, inefficient, wrong and, frankly, it is not an intelligent thing to do.”
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP/REX/Shutterstock.
Former South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han
“Saying the U.S. will no longer engage in anything that is a burden in terms of its relationships with allies, it would be almost like abandoning those alliances," he said about Trump's "America First" rhetoric. “It will inevitably give rise to anti-American sentiment worldwide.”
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