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Did Trump Do Europe a Favor? - The American Prospect
(only by accident, of course)
PARIS – Fifty years ago this week, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies. In clumsily attempting to declare a new official holiday, “Victory Day,” President Trump got his history wrong, forgetting that World War II continued until Japan surrendered on September 2.
The German surrender of May 7, 1945, began an 80-year period in which the United States was the global hegemonic power with Europe as junior partner. Trump has now brought that partnership to an abrupt end.
At its best, the Atlantic Alliance was the centerpiece of a rules-based global system that prized democracy and the rule of law. At its worst, the system was a vehicle for American overreach that sometimes gave priority to corporate interests at the expense of democracy.
It would be an exaggeration to say that Trump’s hostility to Europe is a blessing in disguise. But now Europe will have to figure out how to stand on its own, at least until sanity returns to the United States and maybe even after that. After close to a century of dependence, that may not be such a bad thing.
Over the past 80 years, the United States first rode to Europe’s rescue by leading the war against Hitler, and then by supporting postwar European reconstruction. The U.S. sponsored the Bretton Woods system, which aimed to create political and economic space for Europe’s formerly occupied nations not only to return to democracy but to opt for something like the American New Deal. It worked spectacularly.
The German surrender of May 7, 1945, began an 80-year period in which the United States was the global hegemonic power with Europe as junior partner. Trump has now brought that partnership to an abrupt end.
At its best, the Atlantic Alliance was the centerpiece of a rules-based global system that prized democracy and the rule of law. At its worst, the system was a vehicle for American overreach that sometimes gave priority to corporate interests at the expense of democracy.
It would be an exaggeration to say that Trump’s hostility to Europe is a blessing in disguise. But now Europe will have to figure out how to stand on its own, at least until sanity returns to the United States and maybe even after that. After close to a century of dependence, that may not be such a bad thing.
Over the past 80 years, the United States first rode to Europe’s rescue by leading the war against Hitler, and then by supporting postwar European reconstruction. The U.S. sponsored the Bretton Woods system, which aimed to create political and economic space for Europe’s formerly occupied nations not only to return to democracy but to opt for something like the American New Deal. It worked spectacularly.
https://prospect.org/world/2025-05-06-did-trump-do-europe-a-favor/