Europe hates Donald Trump
Let us pause for a moment to give thanks to whatever deity or randomness brought us to this current Trumpless state. Donald Trump used to be president of the United States. He used to be the master of the Oval Office. Once upon a horrid time, Donald Trump was the “Commander in Chief of the Army and the Navy of the United States.” No more.
Donald Trump is now Citizen Trump, and if we have our way, he will soon become Inmate Trump. We did that. We the people. So remember to count your blessings, because that’s a mighty one.
Yes, once upon a horrid time, Donald Trump told one of Europe’s senior politicians that America would never come to Europe’s aid if it were ever attacked. Trump told the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Europe could go ahead and die for all he cared. He wouldn’t lift a finger to save Europe. No matter what.
This revelation came Tuesday when French European Commissioner Thierry Breton told the story to a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He quoted Trump as saying to von der Leyen, “’You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you.” Trump then added for good measure, “By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO.” Trump then told von der Leyen that she owed America 400 million dollars.
Donald Trump never seems to get tired of reminding everyone that he is loyal to no one, that he will betray anyone and he’ll do it openly and proudly for money. Money is literally the only thing apart from himself that Donald Trump loves. This anecdote is yet another example of that.
Is it little wonder why Vladimir Putin wants Trump back in the presidency so badly he can taste it? NATO is Putin’s bete noire, and if NATO should ever lose the United States as a charter member and ally it would be an enormous gift to the Russian dictator. NATO is nothing without the military might of America.
This is one of the many reasons why Europe hates Trump. All the MAGA crap, jingoism and pseudo patriotism is lost on most Europeans. Why Donald Trump is still popular among millions of Americans is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. In Europe he is also seen as a clown and a fool. But above all he makes Europeans nervous. We are on the front lines, we are the buffer between Russia and the rest of the world. Ukraine was just like us when Putin attacked.
But one thing Ukraine lacked was membership in NATO. Putin would have thought twice before attacking Ukraine had he known that the rest of Europe and the United States would have come to her defence. Without the United States, NATO isn’t much of a deterrence.
“That was a big wake-up call and he may come back,” Breton warned the attendees of the meeting in Davos. The threat of another Trump presidency is a threat to the stability of the world. That is yet another of the many reasons that Europeans despise Trump. He threatens our very existence. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.