Trump Administration Questions Europe’s Commitment to Democracy
I question the timing.
WaPo (“Under Trump, State Department questions Europe’s commitment to democracy“):
The Trump administration is stepping up its criticism of long-standing U.S. allies in Western Europe over free speech and other democratic ideals, even as President Donald Trump has pledged to stop lecturing foreign nations and dramatically softened Washington’s approach to the world’s autocracies.
In recent days, Trump officials have made a series of head-spinning moves signaling the foreign policy shift that’s underway, with the State Department leading the charge. The administration intends to establish a new office within the department that is focused on “natural rights” and what officials characterized as “free speech backsliding” in Europe. It sent a delegation to the continent to scrutinize freedom of expression there, and announced new visa restrictions for European officials whom Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused of targeting American citizens through efforts to police social media discourse.
The evolving U.S. position was articulated this month by Samuel Samson, a 26-year-old Trump appointee serving in a senior role at the State Department, who argued in a widely shared treatise on Substack that Europe had “devolved into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom, and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance.” Those claims have bewildered European officials, who note the Trump administration itself has been accused of breaching democratic norms by cracking down on free speech and not complying with court orders.
While the United States and European nations have always had disagreements, the assertions being leveled by the Trump administration, and its redeployment of oversight resources toward American allies, is a remarkable shift that has baffled current and former government officials and alarmed human rights advocates who say Trump is attempting to meddle in European politics while ignoring genuine abuses elsewhere.
“By focusing mostly on Europe,” the Trump administration is missing “an enormous chunk of the world where the democracy and human rights problems are vastly worse,” said a former senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly because they still do business with the U.S. government. This person, a Republican, noted that it was “ironic that this administration is attacking Europe for things that are happening in this country as a result of this administration’s behavior.”
It has long been true that the United States has had a more robust notion of free speech than other Western nations, even fellow members of the Anglosphere. Outside of direct incitement of violence, there is essentially no legal restriction on what one can say here. Most Western nations limit hate speech or that which may indirectly lead to violence or even cause offense. Whether our version is better than theirs is debatable.
But, yes, this is a really odd time to be making these arguments. Not only is there demonstrable democratic backsliding within these shores but we’ve become friendlier with autocratic regimes whose commitment to democratic ideals is nonexistent.
Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor during the Obama administration, said it was “ totally inconsistent” to focus on Europe and not other regions. “We’ve essentially abandoned a notion that the United States advances its values as well as its interests,” he added.
Of particular concern to Trump’s critics is the delayed release of an annual report on human rights abuses worldwide — and the widely expected plan to eliminate large sections of it.
In the past, the State Department has used the report to call out countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, nondemocracies that, despite their closeness with Washington, have faced routine U.S. scrutiny for limiting free speech and political expression, among other repressive, antidemocratic activities. During his tour of the Middle East this month, Trump told an audience in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, that the United States would end such “lectures.”
Whether publicly lecturing partners of convenience about their human rights practices is useful or effective is certainly debatable. But it’s hard to conceive of a rationale for dropping them while attacking our democratic allies.
Over the years, I’ve been amused at various groups of Americans and government types lecturing others on how to live. The Trump administration doing it seems particularly and peculiarly ironic, though, I must admit.
This is just like their claims that they are attacking universities because of their deep concerns over antisemitism.
It is all a way to whitewash their own authoritarian leanings.
And while, yes, there is some deep philosophical argument that can be had about US v. European approaches the free speech rights, the bottom line is that if you scratch the surface of almost any rightwing US objection, you find, at best, more a concern over the speech of corporations than of people, and more likely than not additional scrathing will reveal the real concern is that hard right racists can’t say what they want.
I have lost all patience treating these concerns as being made in good faith.
Every accusation an admission.
I think part of the real issue here is that the right wing media and think tanks have been attacking Europe for years as they believe that liberals want to make the US more like Europe. While the Eu folks might not be as keen on free speech as we are on many other metrics they are much better. The Cato Human Freedom index lists a bunch of European countries ahead of us (link) and same with the economic index, which is heavily titled towards lower taxes as a metric.
As an aside the 26 y/o guy is exactly what you would expect from the Trump/MAGA people. The kid (yes, kid) went to the U of Texas and then spent 3 years getting a Masters in government at Hillsdale. AFAICT he has never had a real job, has never lived in Europe. At best, he has visited or done a semester or two there, but now he is an expert and is a Senior (LOL) advisor in the State Department. Really, just another kid who can regurgitate stuff he has read or heard from other people.
Steve
The Greeks got it wrong. Hubris is bad, but the real cardinal sin is chutzpah.
“We’re not anti- free speech, you’re anti-free speech.” Standard issue GOP grade school playground level response. They’ve been having way too much fun lately pretending anti-semitism isn’t mostly a conservative thing.
From a UK pov:
The US is not obliged to accept monarchy and the Anglican Church Established.
The UK is similarly not obliged to imitate the US Constitution in our laws.
Accept that, we’ll get along fine.
If not, not.
It’s hard to discern if this is just a spill-over from the MAGA dedication to “culure wars” domestically, or part of a deliberate policy of distancing the US from the Trans-Atlantic Alliance systems. Or both.
But either way, gratuitously insulting allies is a rather odd way to maintain the structures that have underpinned US security and prosperity since the Second World War.
Of course, generalised MAGA grievance is bound to see those as, somehow or other, cheating them.
Resentment is rarely entirely rational.
@steve:
The rather hilarious thing here is that European differences from the the US on absolute individual freedoms of speech, and other issues, relate more to to European conservatism traditions than to any “woke liberalism” in the US sense.
American “conservatives” often seem unable to understand how unusual they are, ideologically, compared to other national traditions.
Due to US history, they are far more based on “liberal” premises.
(Skewed by popular religiosity, Spencer/Sumner type “social-darwinist” concepts, “business liberty”, and the legacies of slavery. And now by MAGA populist grievance-mongering.)
Ha. Imagine thinking any country needs cues from nation that twice elected an unqualified rapist freak like Trump. Book banning Republicans lecturing others about free speech is hilarious. Especially this month, when conservatives will call for banning Pride and Pride flags, while attacking private companies for anything rainbow pilled.
This is really about the Trump regime’s impotent fury that their incompetent DUI hires can’t force a Europe still scarred by WW2 to play games with fascism again a century later. Europeans aren’t interested in allowing racist rightwing dirtbags to degrade their culture the way their Yank counterparts have debased America.
Good for Europe. Being criticized by MAGA usually means you’re on the correct path.
Most European countries have a stated official church or something close to it. That is what American Evangelicals want in this country. But they get to pick the specific religion. Natch.
In Europe, especially in Western Europe, the official religion doesn’t require you to join. I’m sure that the religion wack-a-doodles in the US are up for requiring membership to get government largess. The billionaires don’t care. If the fundies get too annoying, they cut their funding and have a martini. Give the money to some other religious grifters who are more compliant.
@Rick DeMent: The irony is that I’ve read many places the claim that the reason church attendance and religiosity are higher here than in Europe is that without state support, U. S. Religion is much more entrepreneurial.
I keep hearing about people being “baffled” about stuff the trump administration does. I grew up with neighborhood bullies. What made them happy was people being afraid of them. Now one of them is POTUS. What makes him happy is people being afraid of him. This is his drug of choice and the more he gets, the more he wants. Not really baffling.
@EdB: You are right about that, Trump’s behavior isn’t baffling at all if you ever knew a school aged bully. Including the TACO description.