Break-ups are never easy.
Letting go is hard, especially when the relationship has been a long one and one side is dependent on the other. But once you get through the raw emotion, recriminations and tirades, the end is always the same.
The transatlantic alliance is no exception. By any sober measure, JD Vance’s Munich diatribe, which was laced with half-truths bordering on complete distortions, was simply grotesque (if well worth a watch).
Yet, it was also clarifying. For anyone who still didn’t get the memo, Vance left no doubt that Trump’s America is over Europe.
“If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything that you can do for the American people who elected me and elected President Trump,” he said.
In other words: ‘It’s us, not you’.
The demise of the transatlantic relationship is nothing to celebrate, especially for those of us who embody it.
Yet, we also need to be realistic. It doesn’t help that half of America disagrees with Trump. What made the relationship resilient for so many decades is that support for Europe, NATO and the transatlantic community was non-partisan in the US.
No matter who sat in the White House, Europe could be assured of American support.
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