It’s not exactly news that foreign leaders – much like their counterparts in the United States – have concluded that flattery is a necessary prerequisite to doing business with President Donald Trump.

In his first term, Trump seemed practically smitten by the “love letters” he received from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Other leaders pulled out all the stops to make him feel special.

But even against that backdrop, we’ve entered new and striking territory. As Trump has undertaken a much more transparently transactional second term and busted a series of norms while politicizing his office, it seems foreign leaders have taken notice of the new paradigm.

So they’ve turned the obsequiousness up to 11. It seems no amount of sycophancy is deemed over the top, no accolade too premature.

Despite most of the world’s people having remarkably little faith in Trump, these leaders are treating him as an all-conquering hero on the world stage, in escalating terms.