Pop quiz: who recently proclaimed
America as his country’s “colleagues and partners”?
The United Kingdom? Canada? France?
Australia? Japan?
None of the above. It was Putin.
Now consider the following concerns
expressed by nations who have forever been our allies:
“It is clear that the Americans…do
not care about the fate of Europe.” – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
French President Emmanuel Macron is
distraught that America can no longer be relied on to fill its historical role
as the defender of democratic nations, casting doubt that America “will remain
on our side.”
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau is even more distraught that America’s president is “seeking the
total collapse of our economy” and fears that it is part of a long-term plan
for Donald Trump’s America to rob Canada of its sovereignty and absorb Canada
into the US.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro
Sanchez is serving as the Paul Revere of Europe, crying out that “…the
international Far-Right” is threatening both Europe and the Middle East, which
he implies America under Trump has, well, in Putin’s own words, become “partners.”
He clearly implies Trump’s America when he says, “There are those who want to
dismantle global trade and international institutions.”
Since the end of WWII, America has
been not one of the leaders of the free world, but in fact the leader of
the free world. It is America who not only represents true democracy, it is
America who is the global defender of democracy. It is America that other
democracies looked up to. We had the world’s trust, the world’s respect, the
world’s admiration.
But no more…America’s friends and
allies are now being treated as the enemy, while a fascist military aggressor
has become Trump’s - and thus perceived as America’s - “partner.” Parades and
demonstrations critical of Trump have emerged across the European continent,
from the streets of Switzerland to Britian’s capital. They paint anti-Trump
graffiti on walls and street signs. Italians compare him to Mussolini; Germans
compare him to Hitler.
They feel betrayed. Trump has sided
with Putin on the war in Ukraine, offering Putin 1/5 of Ukraine in exchange for
what is supposed to be an end to the fighting as he reads from Putin’s script
on justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has told European leaders that
should Putin ever invade other European states, “I would not protect you. In
fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
In declaring an economic war on
Europe, he played hide-and-seek with the truth accusing the European Union of
being created to do economic harm to the US and having treated the US “very
badly” ending with “now it’s our turn”….which reminds one of Hitler claiming
Poland had been abusive to Germany creating the Germans need to respond with
aggression.
Canada is our brother nation.
Americans love Canadians and vice versa. But now they boo at our national
anthem as Trump pounds them with unjustified tariffs and continues to argue for
US annexation of Canada.
Canada isn’t the only country
on Trump’s menu. He wants the Panama Canal. He wants Gaza. He wants Greenland.
He wants half of Ukraine’s mineral resources. They call this imperialism.
Trump has called on forcing the
entire Palestinian population of 2 Million to leave their homeland so he can
develop and profit off of Gaza, creating what he dreams could become “the
Riviera of the Middle East.” Some call this ethnic cleansing.
“We don’t understand what we have
done to deserve this,” was a question duplicated by both an EU spokesperson and
a Canadian citizen interviewed on the streets of Montreal.
Many in the field of politics
suggest Trump has a 19th Century view of what makes a country great
– to expand its territorial reach. To copy Victoria’s “the sun never sets on
the British Empire” would, in his mind, insure his place as a great president.
I have an additional theory:
Trump is thin skinned, petty and
vengeful. Remembering that his declaration to run for president was triggered
by Barak Obama embarrassing him at a Correspondent’s Dinner, consider that in 2019
he discovered that Trudeau was mocking him behind his back to Europe’s key
leaders at a NATO conference. Those leaders all joined in. As soon as he saw
video of this, he canceled his NATO schedule and flew home humiliated. Now in
his second term, he has declared economic war on each of those nations that
laughed at him. He now openly mocks Trudeau. He cursed Trudeau in phone
conversations. And now he wants Trudeau’s country.
“Trump is always looking for a way
to exact revenge and retribution against people who have criticized him…and
certainly Trudeau would fall into that category,” says Geoffrey Kabaservice,
vice president of political studies at the Niskanen Center.
Be it imperialism; be it a
partnership with Putin; be it for profit; or be it revenge.…No matter his
motivations, the end result is America is no longer a trusted ally and defender
of democracy. In short, America is no longer America anymore.
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