{"id":2405237,"date":"2025-02-21T15:08:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-blames-trump-for-europes-weakness-when-europe-is-to-blame\/"},"modified":"2025-02-21T15:09:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:09:34","slug":"media-blames-trump-for-europes-weakness-when-europe-is-to-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-blames-trump-for-europes-weakness-when-europe-is-to-blame\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Blames Trump For Europe&#8217;s Weakness When Europe Is To Blame"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmedia-blames-trump-for-europes-weakness-when-europe-is-to-blame%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2405237&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article critiques a recent piece from The \u2062Economist that expresses alarm over President Donald trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly destabilizing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-end-of-arms-control\/\" title=\"The End of Arms Control?\">post-war order<\/a> in Europe. It argues that rather of blaming Trump, Europe should examine its own reliance on\u2062 American support, particularly in defense spending, as many European\u200d nations contribute less than the NATO-recommended two percent of their GDP\u2062 to defense. The Economist acknowledges Europe&#8217;s weaknesses, such\u2064 as its aging population and reliance on low defense budgets, but then complains about being excluded \u2063from important negotiations between the U.S. \u2064and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the article contends that Europe must reassess its strategies and acknowledge\u2063 that American\u2063 support is not guaranteed. It \u200bsuggests\u200b that\u2063 Europe needs a &#8220;fiscal revolution&#8221; to enhance its military capabilities and prioritize its national interests rather than continue to depend on the U.S.for defense, thereby fostering an\u2063 surroundings where Europe can\u200c stand on its own. The piece also references internal issues within Europe,including leadership challenges in nations like Ukraine and the impact of migration,arguing that these factors contribute to a landscape\u2064 where Europe is not well-prepared to\u200b face external threats. The conclusion calls for a reevaluation of Europe&#8217;s\u2064 political and defense posture \u200cto \u2064rebuild its\u2062 strength in the face \u200bof emerging \u2064geopolitical challenges.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Economist, a London-based publication, ran an article this week fear-mongering that President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are &ldquo;smash[ing] the post-war order&rdquo; and urged Europe &ldquo;must respond.&rdquo; But the publication&nbsp;failed to mention how Europe placed itself in this position in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The past week has been the bleakest in Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/leaders\/2025\/02\/20\/how-europe-must-respond-as-trump-and-putin-smash-the-post-war-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reads<\/a> the article. &ldquo;Ukraine is being sold out, Russia is being rehabilitated and, under Donald Trump, America can no longer be counted on to come to Europe&rsquo;s aid in wartime.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But maybe Europe should never have become so reliant on America in the first place. America sits on the other side of the world and issued a resounding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/11\/05\/us\/elections\/results-president.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declaration<\/a> in November against the leftist ideology embraced across Europe. America also contributes <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2025\/02\/17\/u-s-tells-europe-to-handle-its-own-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vastly more<\/a> to defense than most European NATO countries, with which the U.S. shares less and less in common.<\/p>\n<p>The Economist did point out some of Europe&rsquo;s weaknesses: &ldquo;It is an indebted, ageing continent that is barely growing and cannot defend itself or project hard power.&rdquo; So instead of blaming Trump, perhaps Europe should look in the mirror.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Decline<\/h2>\n<p>NATO members are encouraged to allocate two percent of GDP to defense spending. According to NATO&rsquo;s 2023 secretary general <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/nato_static_fl2014\/assets\/pdf\/2024\/3\/pdf\/sgar23-en.pdf\">report<\/a>, the U.S. spent more than&nbsp;three percent&nbsp;of its GDP on defense and accounted for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/international-defence-expenditure-2024\/finance-and-economics-annual-statistical-bulletin-international-defence-2024#:~:text=Between%202014%20and%202023%2C%20total,their%20spending%20by%20%2432.7%20billion.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">67 percent<\/a>&nbsp;of NATO&rsquo;s total defense spending that year. According to the report, most other NATO members spend smaller shares of their GDP on defense than the U.S., and many have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/nato_static_fl2014\/assets\/pdf\/2024\/3\/pdf\/sgar23-en.pdf\">not<\/a> even reached two percent.<\/p>\n<p>When European countries make low commitments to defense, they should not be shocked when America &mdash; across the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of miles away &mdash; suggests reducing its involvement in Europe and asks them to increase defense contributions to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/business\/2025\/01\/23\/trump-at-davos-nato-5-push-tariff-warnings-for-europe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">five percent<\/a> of GDP, as Trump did recently in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>The Economist essentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/leaders\/2025\/02\/20\/how-europe-must-respond-as-trump-and-putin-smash-the-post-war-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admits<\/a> Europe doesn&rsquo;t know how to &ldquo;wield hard power&rdquo; &mdash; then almost immediately complains &ldquo;[i]ts leaders have been excluded from peace talks between the White House and the Kremlin.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With many European countries barely contributing two percent or under two percent of their GDP to defense, why are they now complaining about not getting a seat at the negotiating table?<\/p>\n<p>The illustration for The Economist&rsquo;s article rings true, but not in the way apparently intended. It shows Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin left alone at a large table, surrounded by vacant seats.&nbsp;If NATO members contributed to their own defense as much as America has &mdash; or took meaningful steps to help end the Russia-Ukraine conflict &mdash; perhaps they would be sitting at the negotiating table instead of the kids&rsquo; table.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Even if Putin declared war on the rest of Europe, these nations face such immediate threats that there may soon be no Europe left to protect.<\/p>\n<p>The Economist slammed Vice President J.D. Vance for calling Europe &ldquo;decadent and undemocratic.&rdquo; As The Federalist previously reported, while speaking in Munich, Vance <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/14\/j-d-vance-warns-europe-that-its-greatest-threat-comes-from-within\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warned<\/a> Europeans of &ldquo;the threat from within.&rdquo; Vance clarified this threat to be &ldquo;the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>European leaders have ushered waves of third-world migrants into the continent, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/europe-migrant-crisis\/\">overwhelming<\/a> its native people. And just this week, Scottish police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c39vky8wr0do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">arrested<\/a> a pro-life grandmother holding a sign outside a hospital under an abortion &ldquo;buffer zone&rdquo; law. The continent finds itself clearly oppressed by bad government.<\/p>\n<p>Even Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, hailed as a hero for opposing Putin, is a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">de-facto dictator &#038;mdash<\/a>; he declared martial law, enabling him to hold office past the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/international\/article\/2024\/05\/23\/volodymyr-zelensky-a-president-with-no-term-end_6672475_4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">five-year term limit<\/a>&nbsp;which ended in May 2024. Zelensky&rsquo;s government has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/08\/24\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-orthodox-church-ban-intl\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeted<\/a> the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which has historical ties to Russia. Still, Trump caught flak for calling Zelensky a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/02\/19\/trump-zelensky-dictator-ukraine-russia-war\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dictator<\/a>,&rdquo; and, as The Federalist&rsquo;s CEO Sean Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1892970509585006920?s=12&amp;t=RABm2Gz68BHEGRR9ZartiA\">noted<\/a> on X, this so-called &ldquo;smear&rdquo; has &ldquo;resulted in a Category 5 neocon meltdown.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If Zelensky, who cancelled elections and banned opposition political parties and media, is a dictator (and by all definitions of that word, he clearly is), then he must be removed from power, according to the one-dimensional neocon framework for understanding international affairs,&rdquo; Davis wrote. &ldquo;But they don&rsquo;t want Zelensky removed from power, which means he can&rsquo;t be a dictator.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Still, many European countries have firmly affixed their allegiance to Ukraine &mdash; despite their low fiscal commitment, the pressing needs of their own people, and the historical <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1892302423387000885\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complexity<\/a> of the war. <\/p>\n<p>The Economist blamed Trump for rejecting globalism and seeking America&rsquo;s interests first.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The problem is not that Uncle Sam&rsquo;s priorities lie in Asia. The problem is that if Europe comes under Russian attack and seeks American help, Mr Trump&rsquo;s first and deepest instinct will be to ask what is in it for him,&rdquo; reads the Economist.<\/p>\n<p>The European mind apparently cannot comprehend Trump&rsquo;s &ldquo;America First&rdquo; agenda. Americans elected Trump so he would ask &ldquo;what is in it&rdquo; for his people, but European countries&rsquo; obsession with &ldquo;geopolitics&rdquo; and interventionism leaves no room for this question.<\/p>\n<h2>The Path Forward<\/h2>\n<p>The Economist &mdash; perhaps unwittingly &mdash; describes a path forward for Europeans centered around regional interest. The outlet blamed Trump and Putin for creating a &ldquo;nightmare&rdquo; that could &ldquo;force Europe to change how it organises itself.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;[Europe] is trapped in an obsolete worldview of multilateral treaties and shared values,&rdquo; reads the article. &ldquo;Europe&rsquo;s urgent task is to relearn how to acquire and wield power; it must be prepared to confront adversaries and sometimes friends, including America, which will still be there after Mr Trump.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The article said Europeans must assume &ldquo;American support is not guaranteed.&rdquo; Consequently, it said funding &ldquo;rearmament&rdquo; will require a &ldquo;fiscal revolution&rdquo; including &ldquo;deregulation&rdquo; and steps to &ldquo;cut welfare.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This sounds better for both Americans and Europeans alike. If European governments stop siphoning resources from the United States, they will be forced to provide for the interests of their own people. Should they go even further than The Economist &mdash; and actually place national, rather than regional, interests first &mdash; perhaps they can once again begin to find some sort of common ground with America.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-clark-county-keeps-commercial-addresses-on-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Lawsuit: Clark County Keeps Commercial Addresses On Voter Rolls\">staff writer covering election integrity<\/a>. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Economist warned of Trump and Putin disrupting Europe\u2019s stability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2405238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/EU.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[8447,4188,5894,50829,3634],"class_list":["post-2405237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-europe","tag-media","tag-politics","tag-responsibility-2","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/EU.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405246,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405237\/revisions\/2405246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2405238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}