The American night

It is a fact that if anyone can make Europe regain confidence in itself again, it is Donald Trump. What great praise Pete Hegseth dedicated to us yesterday: "Instead of tanks and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equality, climate change, and defense austerity."

Thank you, Mr. Secretary of War. If this is how they see us, you have a very favorable image of us. Gender equality is a basic human right, and our lives depend on adapting to climate change, yours and your children's lives too. One could even reply that, indeed, the welfare state is a European identity sign, unlike the United States, where instead of universal public healthcare or the reduction of homicides by firearms, the focus has been on tanks and missiles, which, by the way, have not helped them win in Afghanistan or Iran, let alone Vietnam. Even more so: in the United States, much more is spent per person on health than in European countries, and yet they obtain much worse results in life expectancy and infant mortality. And yes, they beat us in productivity but not in poverty reduction. And, by the way, we buy almost half of the weaponry we buy in Europe from you.

Europe is no paradise, it has rested on its laurels and has outsourced a large part of its defense, but the problem is not what Hegseth points out, but rather the opposite: that Europe wants to be less Europe. And one last consideration: I have not forgotten the envious comments from my American friends and acquaintances when I spoke to them about our welfare state, the same ones who now apologize for having such an unpresentable president and government, as we had occasion to see a few days ago with the bloody wrestling evening in the White House gardens to celebrate the emperor's birthday, as if it were a Roman circus.