Trump Despises Europe. We Can’t Ignore That Anymore

Donald Trump describes Europe as a “decaying” continent, its leaders as “weak.” He attributes blame for the continuation of the Ukraine war to the victim country and to European governments. His latest remarks, in an interview with Politico, are a dramatic intensification of the barrage of insults and falsehoods by which he conducts international diplomacy.

Even before this particular outburst, Polish leader Donald Tusk was among many Europeans who expressed shock at the anti-Europeanism of the new US National Security Strategy: “Dear American friends,” Tusk posted on social media last weekend, “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem… We need to stick to this… the only reasonable strategy of our common security. Unless something has changed.”