Trump strangles Europe
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President Trump stunned, strangled and humiliated Europe — leaving America's closest continental ally dazed and dumbfounded.
- That was over the course of three short days this week.
The big picture: No amount of "Trump-proofing" could have prepared Europe for the MAGA-shaped hurricane that swept across the continent this week, wreaking torrential havoc on America's closest allies.
Driving the news: Trump left NATO and Ukraine still reeling with his initiation of direct peace talks with Russia, without Ukraine fully in the loop or other European leaders even in the conversation.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth perplexed and perturbed allies on his first visit to NATO by seemingly taking some of Ukraine's bargaining chips off the table before those talks began. He also demanded that Europe take ownership of its own defense so the U.S. could focus on the more urgent threat from China.
- Back at home, Trump announced "reciprocal" tariffs on every country that imposes import duties on the U.S., likely affecting $600 billion worth of goods from the EU.
- And at a global AI summit in Paris on Tuesday, Vice President Vance torched the EU's "excessive regulation of the AI sector" and "hand-wringing about safety," and left the conference without signing its joint declaration.
But it was in Vance's remarks to the Munich Security Conference on Friday that things got particularly personal.
- "[T]he threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor," Vance began in one of his first major speeches on the world stage.
- "What I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values: values shared with the United States of America."
What came next left conference attendees silent, stunned and steaming.
- Vance called European Union officials "commissars" — a reference to the Soviet Union — and accused them of censoring their citizens in the name of fighting disinformation and hate speech online.
- He excoriated Romania for annulling the results of its Nov. 24 election, in which an obscure ultranationalist candidate rocketed to first place after a TikTok campaign that intelligence services linked to Russia.
- He condemned the convictions of a British man who prayed outside an abortion clinic, and of a Swedish man who participated in Quran burnings that led to his friend's murder.
- And he said that of all the challenges Europe faces, there's "nothing more urgent than mass migration" — tying Thursday's terrorist attack in Munich to a "series of conscious decisions" by European politicians.
Between the lines: Ahead of Germany's snap election on Feb. 23, Vance called for an end to political "firewalls" — the principle of refusing to form governments with far-right parties such as the AfD.
- Vance later met with the leader of the AfD — becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to do so — while snubbing Germany's center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
- Together, Vance's actions amounted to an astonishing intervention in European politics that was swiftly condemned by top officials, including Germany's conservative leader and likely next chancellor.
Zoom out: No one could ever mistake Trump for a great supporter of Europe, which he once said "treats us worse than China."
- But whether it's threatening to annex Greenland from Denmark, or picking Saudi Arabia as the mediator for Russia-Ukraine talks, the second Trump term could mean twilight for the transatlantic relationship.
The bottom line: Europe's leaders have been bracing for Trump's return for well over a year. And yet much like the Democrats paralyzed by the chaos at home, the last three days have exceeded their worst nightmares.
