Donald Trump's performance in these first days of his presidency is proof of how quickly democracy and the framework established by the international community to try to manage conflicts are destroyed. In just six weeks he has shown that his only political motivation is the immediate economic gain of those close to him, that his style is one of infantilism incapable of the slightest emotional self-control and that the post-World War II order is over and traditional allies are now strangers to vampirizing. If one day the president of the United States represented the leadership of the free world and wanted to be exemplary in the defense of freedom, free trade and democracy, today he represents the quintessence of extractive and coercive bullying. In addition to being tacky and ignorant, Trump is the prototype of someone who abuses the weak and is weak with the strong.
In just a few weeks, Trump has put into motion his plan to destroy the system of international relations by threatening Denmark for control of Greenland, Panama, Canada, Mexico, China, Ukraine and the European Union as a whole. In record time, he has brought shame and internal chaos to the country. He has threatened and fired hundreds of public servants, persecuted opponents, threatened the press, eliminated environmental policies, and humiliated undocumented immigrants and trans people.
A great television moment
That's how the US president defined it. Half the world was frozen, horrified by the aggressiveness and contempt with which Trump and Vice President Vance treated the president of a country at war after being occupied by the Russian dictator. Ukraine and the Ukrainians who are still fighting for their freedom are an obstacle to his presidential project. Just as the inhabitants of Gaza are an inconvenience to the resort Trump wants to normalize relations with Putin, and Zelensky is an obstacle. If it means rewriting the history of the Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago, letting investigations into Russian war crimes slide, and leaving Ukraine without future security guarantees, Trump is ready to do so. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had defended Ukrainian sovereignty, already said in a recent interview that it is time to go beyond war and establish a triangular relationship between the US, Russia and China.
If his predecessors saw good trade relations with Europe and Asia as a multiplier of peace and growth, Trump sees them as a drain and wonders why he should treat countries that have a surplus with the US as allies. You are worth the wealth you have.
As was evident in the tense, rude and unacceptable brawl at the White House on Friday, Trump dropped Zelensky when the Ukrainian president refused to seek material against President Biden's son on the campaign trail. Trump has been musing for weeks that Ukraine "may be Russian one day" and wants to end the issue to rehabilitate Putin.
After Vance's insults to the Europeans gathered in Munich, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried to put on a good face and mediate in Washington, but it does not seem that appeasement gestures are helpful with Trump's frivolity. Europe is in a hurry and can no longer pretend that it does not know what the American president wants or to what extent he despises it. Apparently, in the last few hours the spectacle and humiliation of Zelensky in an Oval Office full of cameras has caused a regrouping of the actors. Europe knows that Russia will not stop in Ukraine and it also knows that Germany has won the set, not the match, preventing the victory of Trump's far-right ally, and that France has little room before Le Penism attempts the final assault on the Elysée. The Hungarian fifth columnists of Orbán and the Italians of Meloni must be neutralized to prevent them from acting as an internal Trojan horse.
Europe's security must pass through Europe and the capacity for innovation as well. With the words of Munich and the show of the Oval Office it is clear that the order born from the fall of the Berlin Wall has ended. The US does not guarantee security with the ceasefire in Ukraine, nor does it count on the Europeans to negotiate a stable and lasting peace. However, it expects a greater contribution to NATO and the maintenance of bases throughout Europe. The Union must wake up and must act quickly. The first opportunity, and there will not be many, is this very Sunday in London.
