Trump: “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States.”
Insights into Trump's worldview.
The following was a statement that I had initially missed from the cabinet meeting that took place last week. Via Reuters: The EU was created to ‘screw the US’ , says Trump.
“The European Union has been, it was formed, in order to screw the United States. I mean, look, let’s be honest. The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.”
Video at the link.
This is utter nonsense, as Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, noted on Face the Nation.
Europe is a peace project. You know, it was created so that we wouldn’t have wars between the members of European Union, and we haven’t had.
For those who dozed off in history class, it is worth noting that both World War I and World War II started as great power conflicts in Europe, with countries like Germany and France as central beligerents. The 19th Century was rife with European wars, including things like the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, and the Franco-Prussian War. Indeed, the history of Europe prior to the end of the Second World War is a long string of wars, large and small, over territory and power. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a throwback to that era.
Since the end of WWII, however, there has been no continental war in Europe, and indeed, the continent has been, in relative terms, quite peaceful. Exceptions include the wars created by the breakup of Yugoslavia and various actions by Russia against former Soviet republics.
But there is no arguing that the period from 1945 to 2025 has been radically more peaceful than the prior two centuries (and more) of European history.
Two of the most significantly positive steps towards a more peaceful world stage were the creation of NATO and the European Union. Putting these actors, who historically fought one another, into a shared institutional framework has been a historical success. The creation of profound economic interdependence in Europe was meant, among other things, to make war between European powers unthinkably costly. And, further, to create deep and abiding ties among the member states. It was mostly assuredly not created to “screw the United States.” Trump’s belief on this count is warped.
All of this reminds me, to a degree, of anti-vax nonsense. People assume that the current state of the world just, you know, happened, and so there is no risk in letting things degenerate to a prior state of being.
Beyond that function, the EU is a massive market where the US sells its products, and yes, we buy theirs. Trump’s myopic understanding of economics utterly ignores the value created by a vast, global marketplace. And the fact that the US dominates the defense space means that we are in the driver’s seat in such matters. While there is an argument to be made that Europe is not adequately footing the bill on military matters, Trump seems not to understand that much of US power comes from its hegemonic position in this arena.
If Europe were to arm itself the way the US does, that would be a threat to US power and dominance. Or, as noted above, we could see great power conflict return to the continent, which will ultimately be good for no one.
It’s as if those who refuse to learn the lesson of history (and diplomacy, economics, science, et al.) are doomed to repeat them.
Or something.
FTFY
@Daryl:
I don’t buy that.
The way I see it, is that Trump wants to dominate without giving anything back. Which is even stupider.
Because Trump’s approach will either lead to Europe getting their shit together, or Europe looking to China as a counterweight to Russia/the US. China, of course, will jump at this opportunity.
On the other side of the globe, countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and even Australia will have to come to an agreement with China if the US continues with its “my offer is nothing” bullshit.
Despite these realities, Trump believes that everyone will come to him with tears in his eyes, etc., etc.
The man is insane.
Funny how all the He’s Just Forming Initial Bargaining Position sane-washing trolls have magically not posted.
Also fun to watch the spot market for NE electricity double at 12:01 because that energy comes from Canada. As the kids say, oopsie.
Of course Trump doesn’t have a nuanced understanding of the role of NATO/EU.. and their long-standing position as a customer of US military hardware.
Whatever the next US war is, we’ll be going it alone.
God he is just so embarrassing.
I’m forever gobsmacked that people actually buy his nonsense. This is just so far from reality, and makes the US look full of fools (which, arguably, we’ve collectively elected this disaster twice now, so no lies detected I guess).
Somebody needs to tell Trump that not everything is about him.
Possible explanations, not mutually exclusive:
1. He had this thought (or someone suggested it to him) a long time ago, and he’s sticking with it, because that’s the sort of mental and moral degenerate he is.
2. As part of his “How To Be An A**hole In Business” mindset, you justify your abusive behavior by ascribing your own type of awfulness to others, claiming you need to screw them before they screw you.
3. This is another part of the transparent tissue of lies used to justify aligning with Russia.
I’m pretty sure that Trump had no idea what the EU was –nor even that it existed–before someone told him. Of course he thinks it exists to screw us.
Once again, Trump’s vast ignorance and warped psyche dial up a doozy of projection: I’d screw you, so you *must* want to screw me. This stance is both childish and destructive, and another symptom of malignant narcissism – the inability to learn anything new. The guy “doesn’t know anything about anything.”
@Tony W: I’m not convinced that Trump is psychologically capable of viewing anything as not about him. I can’t promise that he really exhibits object permanence.
But, I hope everyone liked their retirement accounts; they’re about to get much smaller.
It’s going to be hard to explain it Trump that, by and large, European politics and policies are conducted by Europeans with little thought to US concerns one way or the other.
Though the origins of the European Union in many ways go back to a set of international agreements and organisations that the US discreetly but definitely viewed with a benevolent eye.
The Committee of European Economic Co-operation 1947.
The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation 1948.
Brussels Treaty 1948
Council of Europe 1949
European Coal and Steel Community 1952
Western European Union 1954
European Economic Community 1957
And the European Union, which built on, and often absorbed, most of those predecessors: 1993
Because they helped address the crucial and interconnected problems of post-War Europe:
– demoralisation, and the potential lure of the political extremes
– economic stagnation in a wrecked continent with constrained markets, supply chains and capital resources
– the reluctance of France and Benelux to see German heavy industry revive under undiluted German national control
– military vulnerability to the Soviet Army in central Europe
– a rather backward and inefficient agricultural sector in need of reconstruction
Resolving those problems was obviously of direct importance primarily to Europeans.
But also to Americans: it buttressed a Europe able to hold off the political lures of communist and neo0fascist parties, and show up the Soviet rule over central Europe as corrupt, exploitative and utterly unfree.
It also provided a Europe that could be a market for US goods, a fields of investment for US corporations, a key component in the international dollar based trading system, a source of useful imports, etc etc.
All in all, the US might have found the world a rather cold and lonely place, had Europe entered a cycle of internecine squabbling into stagnation and decline, ruled over by anti-democratic parties or nostalgic reactionaries.
It’s not just wars. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was a major contributor to making the 1930s depression Great.
It’ possible the felon sees there’s this association of sovereign nations that does something that benefits its members, and he doesn’t get a cut off it. Therefore they must have been created to screw him.
@CSK:
During the felons first term, he attempted numerous times to engage various European countries in bilateral trade negotiations, because he knows that the market power of the US overwhelms any individual EU states eco power. Every time he was referred to Brussels to negotiate with the EU. This frustrated him to no end, because he knew the relative power relationship was pretty even and the existing trade imbalance small.
In part, this also is a contributing issue to the attempt to destroy NATO. Weakening NATO in the felon’s mind will weaken the EU, allowing a predatory US to take advantage.
Given time and this trajectory, the purpose of the EU will eventually become “to screw the US.” Defeat from the jaws of victory.
Cue “5 eyes” satellite infrastructure being shut down [or becoming 4 eyes, minus US] and Australia going back to the French submarine instead of American nukes in 3..2..
@Jen: There are a lot of people out there who are survivors of abuse, and relate to Trump on those terms.
Thinking “win-win” doesn’t exist for these people. Trump, very much a survivor of abuse, doesn’t think that way either. The only reason this has worked for him is because he started out rich.k
I know some abuse survivors. They often are desperate to “deal from a position of strength”, which can easily turn them into abusers, even while they revile the parents that did similar things to them. It can take a long, long effort to move them off this dime. A long, long effort.
@Kingdaddy: More specifically, he probably saw it on one of his “shows”. With Musk it’s often easy to track some of his beliefs to some conspiracy nut on Twitter but with Trump its more likely one of his shows.
Steve