Trump Is Rushing Toward a Deal With Putin, Leaving Europe in the Dust

  • JD Vance’s broadside in Munich shocked European leaders
  • European powers are struggling to forge a response to Trump
A local resident walks past a heavily damaged building in Kostyantynivka, Ukraine, on Feb. 14.Photographer: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
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The groans and the anxious side glances gave way to silence as Vice President JD Vance took center stage in Munich to pour contempt on longstanding US allies and cut Europe down to size.

It was an attack of unbridled ferocity in the name of free speech that laid bare the long-stewing hostility that Donald Trump and his most senior aides feel for the European Union — they see the bloc as a symbol of big government that constrains US companies.