A ebook pageant in Vilnius, conferences with mates in Warsaw, a dinner in Berlin: I occurred to be at gatherings in three European cities over the previous a number of days, and in all places I went, everybody wished to speak in regards to the Oval Workplace efficiency final Friday. Europeans wanted a while to course of this occasion, not simply due to what it advised them in regards to the conflict in Ukraine, however due to what it advised them about America, a rustic they thought they knew effectively.
In only a few minutes, the habits of Donald Trump and J. D. Vance created a model new stereotype for America: not the quiet American, not the ugly American, however the brutal American. No matter illusions Europeans ever had about Individuals—no matter photographs lingered from outdated American motion pictures, those the place the nice guys win, the unhealthy guys lose, and honor defeats treachery—these are shattered. No matter fond reminiscences stay of the smiling GIs who marched into European cities in 1945, of the speeches that John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan made on the Berlin Wall, or of the crowds that when welcomed Barack Obama, these are additionally fading quick.
Fairly other than their politics, Trump and Vance are impolite. They’re merciless. They berated and mistreated a visitor on digicam, after which boasted about it afterward, as if their ugly habits achieved some type of macho “win.” They introduced that they’d halt transfers of navy tools to Ukraine, and hinted at ending sanctions on Russia, the aggressor state. In his speech to Congress final evening, Trump as soon as once more declared that America would “get” Greenland, which is part of Denmark—an indication that he intends to run roughshod over different allies too.
These are the actions not of the nice guys in outdated Hollywood motion pictures, however of the unhealthy guys. If Reagan was a white-hatted cowboy, Trump and Vance are Mafia dons. The refrain of Republican political leaders defending them appears each sinister and stunning to Europeans too. “I by no means thought Individuals would kowtow like that,” one pal advised me, marveling.
The Oval Workplace assembly, the following bulletins, and the speech to Congress additionally clarified one thing else: Trump, Vance, and lots of the individuals round them now absolutely inhabit another actuality, one composed solely of issues they see and listen to within the ether. A part of the Oval Workplace altercation was provoked by Zelensky’s insistence on telling the reality, as the complete video clearly reveals. His mistake was to level out that Russia and Ukraine have reached many cease-fires and made many agreements since 2014, and that Vladimir Putin has damaged most of them, together with throughout Trump’s first time period.
It’s exactly as a result of they keep in mind these damaged truces that the Ukrainians hold asking what occurs after a cease-fire, what sort of safety ensures might be put in place, how Trump plans to stop Putin from breaking them as soon as extra and, above all, what worth the Russians are prepared to pay for peace in Ukraine. Will they even quit their claims to territory they don’t management? Will they agree that Ukraine generally is a sovereign democracy?
However Trump and Vance aren’t within the reality in regards to the conflict in Ukraine. Trump appeared angered by the suggestion that Putin would possibly break offers with him, refused to acknowledge that it’s occurred earlier than, falsely insisted, once more, that the U.S. had given Ukraine $350 billion. Vance—who had refused to fulfill Zelensky when provided the chance earlier than the election final yr—advised the Ukrainian president that he didn’t have to go to Ukraine to grasp what’s going on in his nation: “I’ve really watched and seen the tales,” he mentioned, which means that he has seen the “tales” curated for him by the individuals he follows on YouTube or X.
Europeans may also see that this different actuality is instantly and profoundly formed by Russian propaganda. I don’t know whether or not the American president absorbs Russian narratives on-line, from proxies, or from Putin himself. Both means, he has completely adopted the Russian view of the world, as has Vance. This isn’t new. Again in 2016, on the top of the election marketing campaign, Trump steadily repeated false tales launched by Russia’s Sputnik information company, declaring that Hillary Clinton and Obama had “based ISIS,” or that “the Google search engine is suppressing the unhealthy information about Hillary Clinton.” On the time, Trump additionally imitated Russian speak about Clinton beginning World Warfare III, one other Russian meme. He produced a brand new model of that within the Oval Workplace on Friday. “You’re playing with World Warfare III. You’re playing with World Warfare III,” he shouted at Zelensky.
However what was ominous in 2016 is harmful in 2025, particularly in Europe. Russian navy aggression is extra damaging, Russian sabotage throughout Europe extra frequent, and Russian cyberattacks nearly fixed. In reality, it’s Putin, not Zelensky, who began this battle, Putin who has introduced North Korean troops and Iranian drones to Europe, Putin who instructs his propagandists to speak about nuking London, Putin who retains elevating the stakes and scope of the conflict. Most Europeans reside on this actuality, not within the fictional world inhabited by Trump, and the distinction is making them assume otherwise about Individuals. Based on pollsters, practically three-quarters of French individuals now assume that the U.S. shouldn’t be an ally of France. A majority in Britain and a really giant majority in Denmark, each traditionally pro-American nations, now have unfavorable views of the U.S. as effectively.
In actuality, the Russians have mentioned nothing publicly about leaving Ukrainian territory or stopping the conflict. In actuality, they’ve spent the previous decade constructing a cult of cruelty at dwelling. Now they’ve exported that cult not simply to Europe, not simply to Africa, however to Washington too. This administration abruptly canceled billions of {dollars} of meals help and health-care applications for the poorest individuals on the planet, a vicious act that the president and vp haven’t acknowledged however that thousands and thousands of individuals can see. Their use of tariffs as random punishment, not for enemies however for allies, appears not simply brutal however inexplicable.
And within the Oval Workplace, Trump and Vance behaved like imperial rulers chastising a subjugated colony, vocalizing the identical disgust and disdain that Russian propagandists use after they speak about Ukraine. Europeans know, everybody is aware of, that if Trump and Vance can discuss that approach to the president of Ukraine, then they could finally discuss that approach to their nation’s chief subsequent.
