Fiona Hill, former Russia adviser on the National Security Council who testified at President Donald Trump's impeachment hearings, said Tuesday the United States is increasingly seen as an "object of pity" around the world.
Hill was part of a Citizen by CNN 2020 conference. She told CNN's Jim Sciutto that America's handling of the coronavirus crisis as well as divisions on race and politics have hurt the country's standing.
"We are increasingly seen as an object of pity, including by our allies, because they are so shocked by what's happening internally, how we're eating ourselves alive with our divisions," Hill said. "We're the ones who are creating all this. It's not the Russians or the Chinese or anyone else. We are doing this to ourselves."
When asked whether the United States is still seen as a model to others around the globe, the former national security adviser said, "Unless we get our domestic act together, no."
Hill blamed the "bungled handling of COVID, on top of race relations, 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."
She also said it would be "difficult" for NATO to survive if Trump wins a second term. The United States, she said, needs to "revitalize our commitment to NATO."
"Right now, most of our closest allies, not just partners and other major players, do not see the United States as leading," she said. "They see us as quite the contrary, as being so consumed with domestic problems that we really can’t do anything very much at all."