A inhibited Europe

"Freedom is incompatible with democracy." This memorable phrase by Peter Thiel perfectly explains what is happening in the United States, with Trumpism as its political expression. For those who believe, like the owner of PayPal, that freedom is exercised without awareness of limits, with everyone doing whatever they please (a principle directly proportional to the power of those who choose to indulge it), it is clear that democracy is an obstacle, because it is founded on the recognition of a series of rights and duties that shape cultures, on a legal framework that should obviously not permit the nihilistic behavior of those who believe that everything is permissible for them. Trump's display and exaltation of this behavior has turned it into a state doctrine, and the president has systematically dedicated himself to violating the law and the consensuses acquired in liberal democracies. From violating international borders and systematically abusing power by disregarding or eliminating any legal principle that inconveniences him, to the attempt to extend his arbitrary worldview to the entire planet, Trump's despotism is a blatant application of the Thiel principle.

This headlong rush by the United States has left Europe manifestly bewildered, with governments that, with very few exceptions, have not dared to raise their voices. Many of them succumbed to the Trumpian delusion. A disquietness that they now try to justify by saying that frameworks—national, moral, and cultural—are constantly changing. Certainly, this is true: societies evolve, for better or for worse. But this should not prevent us from pointing out the ruptures that affect values ​​linked to the dignity of the human condition. Europe has long lived under the tutelage of the United States, at least since World War II. It took Trump's irascible insolence for signs of dissent to begin appearing. And they seem to be escalating. Two figures hardly suspected of anti-Americanism have raised their voices. "Europe's vacation is over," said Chancellor Friedrich Merz, noting the loss of the Old Continent's leading role. And he acknowledged, unusually for a German Christian Democrat, that "a fracture has occurred between Europe and the United States." "The culture of war of the MAGA movement is not ours," he added. President Emmanuel Macron, who had alienated a large part of the French population in his attempt to align the Republic with enlightened authoritarianism—seeking a favorable reception in the US—now admits "that the strategy of bowing down to the United States is not working."

What, then, is to be done? The first initiative, shared by Germany and France, would be a military rearmament of the continent independently of the US, albeit with the complicity of the American government. And it seems this hasn't pleased Washington, which has sent Mario Rubio to the European military conspiracy to raise its profile. Rubio, who would like to be a more palatable version of Trumpism, surely with aspirations of becoming his successor (a high risk if the president, who considers himself eternal, finds out), joined the meeting with a friendly tone, reiterating the importance of Europe and the need for understanding, but making it perfectly clear that, within this framework, he is making his position clear. Good manners, but profound disagreements on which there will be no concessions. And this diplomatic gesture was enough for Von der Leyen, the embodiment of Trumpism in Europe, to flash a broad smile to celebrate a reunion with America. A pathetic figure who intends to lead a Europe on its knees before the United States. Let's not forget that, during a visit to Trump as a European leader, the president humiliated her by receiving her at a golf course he owned.

Europe has raised its voice, and Rubio immediately came to cast the line. There is no excuse. Either Europe moves forward, renewing a common project that is unraveling, to recover its distinctive profile, or the plague of Trumpism and its heirs will continue to penetrate our midst. Europe, riddled with contradictions, operates at a snail's pace and finds it incredibly difficult to move from words to action. Gavin Newsom, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Hillary Clinton were also in Munich. Will it take the Americans themselves—the Democratic Party and company—to react and put an end to this period of post-democratic authoritarianism for Europe to lose its fear? Or are there actually powers on the Continent who are already content with this submission and who, without being seen, discreetly share Von der Leyen's smile?