The US is no longer a friend to Canada, the UK, or the EU. It’s time for them, and the rest of the world, to act accordingly.
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There was a time when the United States truly was a “shining city on a hill” and could proudly (and correctly) claim to be the “leader of the free world.”
For decades, under Republicans and Democrats alike, the US led a coalition of liberal democracies from across the globe to form a bulwark against authoritarianism and oppression.
Time and again, American lives and treasure were spent on protecting freedom, most importantly to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan in World War II, then to counter the threat the Soviet Union posed to the world.
Certainly, mistakes were also made, especially when the US primarily pursued its own ends.
As a result, that shining city lost some of its luster over time — for example, in the jungles of Vietnam, and especially after 9/11. At that time, the rest of the world’s democracies came to America’s aid, but that moment of unity was squandered in the sands of Iraq.
Generally, however, the United States still remained one of the “good guys.”
That’s no longer the case.
Under Donald Trump, the shining city on a hill now resembles the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings… and it is vitally important that the remaining members of that coalition start treating the United States like an adversary and no longer as an ally that has lost its way.
The latter might have been the correct course of action when Trump won the presidency in 2016. Back then, when he boorishly fumbled his way across the world stage, he could be dismissed as an aberration, a mistake the American people made but later rectified.
In addition, in spite of his threats of tariffs, the praise for authoritarians, that little favor he owed Vladimir Putin, or all those disparaging comments about NATO, there were plenty of “adults in the room” who could rein him in and counter his worst impulses.
But now we know that Trump’s first term was not an anomaly at all, and those adults are long gone and have been replaced by “America First” loyalists.
As a result, he is no longer a mere nuisance but rather a true global menace on par with some of the authoritarians he so reveres.
This week offered perhaps the starkest reminder of how Trump’s erratic behavior — shaped by dictatorial fantasies and a manic desire to be viewed as one of the great men of history — undermines the shared goals of those defenders of democracy.
On Wednesday, he hung his supposed allies out to dry by calling Putin and setting up some in-person meetings between the two with the goal of stopping the war the Russian president started and which he could end at any minute if he so chose.
In doing so, Trump not only brought Putin to the negotiating table after he had been shunned by the free world for years, he also didn’t bother to inform Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of his plan and left other European leaders in the dark.
Apparently, he does not believe that anybody but his Russian counterpart and himself needs to be involved in those negotiations — certainly not the Ukrainians, who have lost 100,000 soldiers in the Russian invasion, nor the other European powers, who collectively have boosted Ukraine’s defense with more money and weapons than the US.
And, for good measure, Fox-News-host-turned-Defense-Secretary Pete Hegseth weakened Ukraine’s negotiating position by stating that it would be unrealistic to think that the country will be allowed to join NATO or regain the territory Russia has brutally seized.
And that wasn’t all. Hegseth also told the Europeans they would be responsible for maintaining any peace settlement because the US would not provide troops or treasure.
So, if you’re keeping score, Trump wants to work out a bi-lateral agreement — with his pal Putin (after kneecapping Ukraine) but without Zelenskyy and European leaders — and then expects the latter to do all of the dirty work.
That sounds more like Искусство сделки than The Art of the Deal.
Of course, what would mean even more to Putin than a big slice of Ukraine would be for the US to quit NATO, the alliance that has kept the Soviet Union/Russia at bay for 75 years.
There is perhaps a 50-50 chance that this is going to happen.
One of the reasons why we think so is that Trump keeps threatening its members.
In the past, it would have been easy to dismiss this kind of talk as silly bluster. That was the case when the president floated the idea of purchasing Greenland in his first term.
Now, however, acquiring the world’s largest island to gain control of its strategic location and natural resources — and also re-taking the Panama Canal — have been repeatedly trumpeted as foreign policy goals of the United States.
And Trump talks way too often about making Canada a US state for this to be something that can be ignored.
What is most worrisome is that he has indicated he would consider the use of coercion or even force to achieve these goals. Think about it — Greenland and Canada are part of NATO, whose members are treaty-bound to defend, by military action if necessary, any and all members from attack.
Then there are Trump’s constant economic threats that are directed at “allies” and “friends” more often than supposed adversaries. With his tariffs, the president is threatening the entire world economy, all in service of his belief that he is somehow being taken advantage of, just because the US runs a trade deficit.
Sadly, that’s still not all.
Even before it became clear that Trump would again be the GOP nominee, we called Republicans the greatest threat to humanity because they are standing in the way of “making meaningful progress on solving the most pressing problems of our time.”
This is even more true under Trump II.
The MAGAfied US is not only a main obstacle to combating global warming and keeping climate change in check, it’s making things worse with the new president’s “drill, baby, drill” obsession.
While others in the free world at least try to address the problem (although inadequately), Trump is determined to aggravate it.
Finally, Trump’s MAGAmerica is a bully. Instead of working with allies, he wants to bend them to his will on issue after issue.
For example, Vice President JD Vance, who is on an “antagonize Europe” tour this week, told the continent’s leaders convened in Paris that they should follow the US’s lead and embrace unrestricted development of artificial intelligence — another serious threat to humanity.
He then backed up that “leadership” by refusing to sign a final statement at the Paris conference that called for AI to be “open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy.”
It’s just one more example that, to the Trump administration, “America First” really means, “Toe the line or get stepped on.”
So, where does that leave the free world (or what’s left of it)?
On the one hand, leaderless and under threat of extinction. On the other hand, Trump’s authoritarian and antagonistic behavior also provides an opportunity for others to step up.
However, to do so, they must not only understand that the US under Trump is a de facto adversary now, but also band together to face the threat that Trump’s America poses.
Yes, the US is bigger and more powerful than all of its (former) allies individually.
However, if the European Union, the UK, and other liberal democracies show a united front and work together to sideline Trump, they can not only weather this storm but learn how to offer a counterweight to other authoritarian leaders whose policies risk global war and the destruction of humanity’s habitat on earth.
