Originally published at crisis magazine
The relationship between Europe and America seems frayed at the moment—not least since Vice President Vance’s comments at the Munich Security Conference last month, and his, President Trump’s, and President Zelenskyy’s Punch and Judy show at the Oval Office. The Vice President’s comments at Munich sent Europe’s chattering classes screeching—though no one tried to refute the truth of what he said. The antics at the White House were quite amusing, and the German Chancellor thundered that Europe must declare its own independence from America. But that last comment begs the question—which Europe and which United States?
There seems an easy generalization: that the United States is divided between—for want of a better word—Trumpsters and Bidenites. The latter were willing to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian and support Europe’s elites on the same quest. Trump’s America, according to this narrative, is willing to support Putin and consign Ukraine and possibly all Europe to Russian hegemony. Those elites, in the meantime, are facing Russia outside and a rising tide of populism (epitomized by Hungary’s Prime Minister Orbán) inside—which they darkly suggest is somehow allied to Russia. Meanwhile, they ignore the Islamist minorities, whose governmentally unchecked antics only egg on the populists
