Europe Is Slowly Getting Ready to Ditch America

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory, the United States’ European allies were initially ready to bend to Trump’s will and accept his unique style of global leadership. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rushed to the White House, where he offered Trump an unprecedented second state visit on behalf of King Charles III, knowing the U.S. president is a sucker for monarchist glitz and glamor.

Other leaders followed Starmer’s example, including NATO head Mark Rutte, who bizarrely called Trump “ daddy ” at a NATO summit in 2025. In his second term, Trump had a real opportunity to shape the world in his image and restore the United States’ place as the undisputed leader of the free world. Instead, Trump has continued to lash out at allies and reject the White House’s place in the world. Europeans are responding in kind. Europeans were happy to keep Trump on side, because they believed they still needed the United States. In the aftermath of the Cold War, Europeans spent decades in lethargy and complacency about their own defense where a broadly subservient pro-Atlanticist position made sense. Europe allowed itself to be an outpost of U.S. foreign policy in exchange for D.C. bankrolling its security and preferred market access. That calculation is now less certain. What value is there in an easy and complacent arrangement if the United States suddenly withdraws 5,000 troops from Germany or imposes tariffs for no obvious reason? Is it really worth sucking up to Trump when he makes jokes about domestic violence to belittle you, as he did with French President Emmanuel Macron, or makes claims about a politically neutral head of state privately agreeing that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, as he did with King Charles?

Key points

• Other leaders followed Starmer’s example, including NATO head Mark Rutte, who bizarrely called Trump “ daddy ” at a NATO summit in 2025.
• In his second term, Trump had a real opportunity to shape the world in his image and restore the United States’ place as the undisputed leader of the free world.
• Instead, Trump has continued to lash out at allies and reject the White House’s place in the world.
• Europeans are responding in kind.
• Europeans were happy to keep Trump on side, because they believed they still needed the United States.