Why The World Is Betting Against American Democracy
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... s-00135326
When I asked the European ambassador to talk to me about America’s deepening partisan divide, I expected a polite brushoff at best. Instead, the ambassador unloaded for an hour, warning that America’s poisonous politics are hurting its security, its economy, its friends and its standing as a pillar of democracy and global stability.
“I don’t know if in the coming years people will be looking at the United States as a model for democracy.”
A former Eastern European ambassador to D.C. worried about how some GOP war critics cast the Ukraine crisis as President Joe Biden’s war when “in reality, the consideration should be to the national interests of the United States.” An Arab diplomat
“The world does not have time for the U.S. to rebound back,” the former Asian ambassador said. “We’ve gone from a unipolar world that we’re familiar with from the 1990s into a multipolar world, but the key pole is still the United States. And if that key pole is not playing the role that we want the U.S. to do, you’ll see alternative forces coming up.”
Russia’s diplomats, meanwhile, are among those delighting in the U.S. chaos (and fanning it). The Eastern European ambassador said the Russians had long warned their counterparts not to trust or rely on Washington. And now what do they say? “We told you so.”
Some predicted that a Republican win in November would mean their countries would have to become more transactional in their relationship with the United States instead of counting on it as a partner who’ll be there no matter what.
Canadians worry US democracy cannot survive Trump's return to White House, poll finds
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ ... 024-01-15/
OTTAWA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - About two-thirds of Canadians surveyed this month said American democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump in the White House, and about half said the United States is on the way to becoming an authoritarian state, a poll released on Monday said.
Trump told European leaders that US ‘will never come to help you’
Then president told European commissioners in 2020 that ‘Nato is dead’ and the US would never defend Europe if it were attacked
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ope-attack
A majority of Europeans currently believe that a second term with former United States President Donald Trump in the White House would weaken the Continent’s security alliance with the U.S. — and they are right.
https://www.politico.eu/article/how-eur ... relations/
But while Europeans may not be able to determine the outcome of the upcoming U.S. elections, they can begin to build firewalls and take other measures — measures on military preparedness, the European Union’s decision-making processes, institutionalizing ties between transatlantic stakeholders, and guarding against a potential drift away from the U.S.
Europe must not be caught short if Trump wins again
https://www.ft.com/content/c8e21011-a2a ... 569bd0d197
In May 2017, after two bruising summits with the new US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel famously told her peers: “We Europeans must now take our fate into our own hands. We have to know that we must fight for our future on our own.” Unfortunately, she never put those historic words into practice. When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, almost three months after Merkel had left power, the US had to intervene.
Ukrainians and Europeans were lucky enough that the man sitting in the Oval Office was not Trump but Joe Biden. Today, however, alarm bells are ringing in European capitals, where US opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential election are being monitored with a degree of alarm. In 2016, Europeans were caught by surprise; this time, there are plenty of harbingers of the outcome they dread. Faced with the distinct possibility of Trump returning to the White House, Europeans should brace for the storm. Trump II will be even worse than Trump I, their friends in Washington warn: no more adults in the room, weakened checks and balances, hardened Republicans all around.
Trump’s Indifference on Ukraine War Sets Stark Choice for U.S. Voters in 2024
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-ukr ... e-d999df46
Donald Trump poses the biggest danger to the world in 2024
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/ ... ld-in-2024
Primary concern: Trump, Ukraine, and the Republicans’ foreign policy divisions
The candidates for the Republican primaries hold diverging views on the future of US foreign policy. In the event of a Republican victory, Europeans must prepare for an end to American support to Ukraine.
https://ecfr.eu/article/primary-concern ... divisions/
Trump’s second term may well be more extreme than his first term. Trump’s central policy concerns are domestic, driven by his belief that he will face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted of even a subset of his crimes. But he also understands that his political supporters would gleefully endorse dictatorial methods if used against Democrats, progressives, Muslims, immigrants, or their allies.
Trump has reportedly pledged to appoint loyal supporters to positions that have traditionally been nonpartisan and professionalised. He allegedly plans to surround himself with sycophants who will implement his most dangerous ideas about how to use federal power to crush his perceived enemies at home.
Unlike during his first term, Trump understands now that his personal fate depends on his ability to act decisively against core US institutions. This is not a secret, this is his campaign platform. He has a political team that will enable him to do this as soon as he takes office. Having failed on 6 January 2021 to overturn American democracy from the outside through seditious conspiracy, he will try to overturn it from the inside, using executive power.