The Financial Times is not known as a hysterical left wing rag:
Winston Churchill is credited with saying that America does the right thing after exhausting the alternatives. Donald Trump has turned that aphorism on its head. In the past 10 days, he has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. Those who thought America was a friend or ally, notably Ukraine and Nato, are dropping once safe assumptions to cope with a world in which America is an unabashed predator. Countries that were treated by Washington as adversaries, notably Vladimir Putin’s Russia, are suddenly America’s friend.
There were hinge moments in history when the US displayed its character as global leader, such as Dwight Eisenhower’s repudiation of Anglo-French imperialism in the 1956 Suez crisis, or Ronald Reagan’s 1987 exhortation to the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. They defined the world’s idea of America. Trump’s assertion this week that Ukraine “should have never started” the war is the dark version of those. His account of Russia being provoked to invade Ukraine came straight from Putin’s talking points. So too was JD Vance’s Valentine’s Day speech in Munich in which the US vice-president identified liberal democracy as Europe’s real threat from within.
These moments will live in infamy.[…]
Trump is only getting started. His dismissal of Zelenskyy as “a dictator without elections” portends the disturbing outline of a peace settlement. Vance called Zelenskyy “disgraceful” for accusing Trump of living in a “disinformation bubble”. The idea that Ukraine has been under brutal assault and faces possible extinction is dismissed as liberal virtue signalling, like DEI or constitutional guardrails.
They point out that his blathering about Greenland and Gaza are not just trivialities to be ignored because they illustrate how he divides the world into “spheres of interest” which in his mind means whatever he wants it to mean.
And they point out that while some think his sucking up to Russia is a clever way of “luring” Russia away from China, it’s ridiculous:
But that is wishful thinking. Any such manoeuvre would make sense only in concert with America’s allies. While promising to lift sanctions on Russia, Trump is readying for a new transatlantic trade war. After three generations of US leadership, it is always tempting to believe that Trump does not mean what he says. Perhaps this is a feint in some grand art of the deal. But allies and erstwhile friends must banish those self-soothing thoughts. With Trump, what you see is what you get.
America has turned.
Sadly, they are correct. And in Europe, despite the pandering we see with Macron’s visit today and probably Starmer’s later, nobody believes in this alliance anymore.
The new German center right leader has defied the entreaties of the US to make common cause with the new Nazis of the Afd party and instead is giving up on the United States:
Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.
The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.
If he follows through on his rhetoric after assembling a new government in the coming weeks, Merz will steer Europe in a radical new direction at a critical time for the security of Ukraine and the wider region.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting said. “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Merz, a staunch Atlanticist who has spent much of his professional career as a lawyer working with and for American firms, didn’t stop there. Later this year, a NATO summit will be held — but he suggested Europe may need to devise a new defense structure to replace it. “I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June,” he said. “Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”
Stunning. And in case you are wondering about the contours of this new European alliance, it’s not altogether a good thing:
On Friday, Merz suggested it was time to explore nuclear cooperation between France, the U.K. and Germany (and others) to replace the American nuclear umbrella that has guaranteed European safety from Russian attack. His speculation was anything but idle.
It makes perfect sense that Trump’s childlike obsession with corrupt “deals” (which always seem to benefit the other side) would end up initiating a new nuclear arms race. He makes the world more dangerous every time he opens his mouth.
