Europe Freaks Out

Many of our friends and allies in Europe, not unlike most Democrats here at home, are in panic mode over President Trump and his second administration.

The newly inaugurated president has turned out a blizzard of domestic executive orders reversing policies of the previous Biden administration, fired numerous federal workers in the executive branch, and upended the old world order.

None of these actions by Mr. Trump should be a surprise. He outlined and promised to accomplish them throughout his campaign last year and subsequently won a decisive victory in the November election despite many obstacles put in his way.

One matter Mr. Trump made clear was that he opposed chronic wars which produced so many casualties on all sides, consumed so many resources, and never seemed to end.

Even before taking office, Mr. Trump made it clear that he was going to exert U.S. power to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, bring Israeli and American hostages home, and persuade the combatants in the Ukraine war to negotiate an end to that conflict.

The ceasefire has occurred, hostages are being released, and Mr. Trump has made a bold proposal to prevent the Gaza territory from being a future source of terror and conflict against Israel. He has insisted that all sides accept certain conditions that will likely lead to a peaceful resolution. Those conditions are controversial in some cases, but they are nonetheless conditions that promise to disrupt the old patterns of violence and war.

Similarly, Mr. Trump has brought about the beginning of negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine. Until he took office, there were no such negotiations in sight. A battlefield stalemate had occurred, casualties were huge on both sides, and tensions had dramatically increased throughout the central and eastern European region.

Mr. Trump’s predecessor had committed billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine, especially in military resources. Although the Cold War had ended in 1991, it appeared to be returning 40 years later. Mr. Putin had been the aggressor by invading Ukraine, and the U.S. and its NATO allies had taken the side of Mr. Zelensky and his government in Kyiv. Most of the aid had come from the U.S.

The U.S. was also supplying military aid to Israel, plus large amounts of other foreign aid to Egypt and nations in Asia, Africa, and around the world, all while facing trade deficits with almost every one of its trading partners.

In his first term, Mr. Trump put U.S. NATO allies on notice that they needed to pay for a greater share of NATO’s budget. He had also renegotiated the old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, signing the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). He insisted that Mexico make a greater effort to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing its border into the U.S.

For these actions, Mr. Trump was branded an “isolationist,” “anti-world trade,” “anti-NATO,” “pro-Russian,” and a host of other negative labels by the establishment media and his political opponents.

In his second term, Mr. Trump not only wanted to continue his initiatives to make the economic playing field more equitable for the U.S., but he also said he was determined to stop the endless international violent conflicts that were costing so many lives, physical destruction, and hardship for those on the battlefields and draining so many valuable resources in the U.S. and worldwide.

When Mr. Trump won the 2024 election so decisively, his political opponents, the hostile media, and foreign elites everywhere were shocked. They had demonized him and his policies for so long that they were, and continue to be, mystified by his true intentions and by his success so far.

In recent days, initial visits and speeches by Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Hegseth in Europe have been greeted by alarm and panic — and conclusions that the U.S. is pulling away from its alliances and can’t be counted on.

When Angela Merkel was the German chancellor, she warned that the U.S. was redefining its support for the NATO alliance, but she did nothing about it. Nor did France, nor did any of the other NATO countries.

Long dependent on the U.S. to provide the bulk of the cost and military manpower for their security and defense, the nations of Europe simply refused to accept a new and more balanced relationship with the U.S.

President Trump says he wants our allies to be partners in the now unfolding and transformed world order. Those European nations seem to be insisting on being dependents instead. This misunderstanding and mistranslation of what the Trump administration is saying through the vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense in their conversations with European allies is the true source of the alarm and panic in Paris, Bonn, Madrid, The Hague, Kyiv, Warsaw, and Brussels.

Meanwhile, voters in Europe are expressing their unhappiness with their old leaders and old political parties, the very same leaders and parties that seem stuck in the past. Perhaps imminent elections in those nations will also result in surprises and changes.

Barry Casselman is a contributor for AMAC Newsline.