Rym Momtaz
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With U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Europeans had a choice: Either recalibrate their relationship with Washington or kowtow to America because they don’t want to suffer the short-term pain for the long-term gain.
It is now clear they have mostly chosen genuflection wrapped in sycophancy and reverence.
Since his inauguration in January, the Europeans have bought unlimited passes for the Trump roller-coaster ride. They have climbed on,
strapped themselves in, and regularly screamed out in terror but failed to get off. Instead, they keep topping up for more. Their highest collective ambition seems to be to avoid or postpone worst-case scenarios—a U.S. withdrawal from NATO or a Trump-Putin lovefest—instead of working on shaping, with Trump, a new relationship with the United States.
As a result, the regular calls and proclamations of greater European geopolitical power are increasingly disconnected from reality. They are out of pace with the speed and intensity of the security challenge Europe is facing from Russia and others. Most European leaders also seem addicted to the transatlantic status quo, despite clear persistent U.S. bipartisan signals that it cannot endure.
Trump keeps blindsiding Europeans—with months of aggressive statements against Ukraine, and an escalating trade war—and yet, they keep thinking they can bite down through the whiplash and buy their way out.
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