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Your guide to what US elections in 2024 mean for Washington and the world
Maybe there is one simple reason why Donald Trump's agenda is so hostile. Trump reacts to flattery. Europe offers almost none.
Although European leaders sometimes try to massage the most thin person in the world, their public does not pull their contempt. Among the voters in France, Germany and Spain, two thirds say that Trump's elections made the world less safe. Europe is too noisy for Sycophance.
Trump will certainly notice it, just as he certainly noticed a giant orange -orange balloon, which in 2019 flew on his state visit to London. Its policies – saving tariffs, threatening Greenland, shredding climate action, betrayal of Gaza and Ukraine – could hardly focus better as a return.
The temptation for Europeans is to go further: to bleed not only for it, but to America itself. It is a short jump from the decryption of the US President as a dictatorial Moron to condemn the public. In February, Canadian fans of ice hockey fans emerged from the US national anthem; “Leave America Go Away”, made a great baseball cap. But otherwise, anti -Americanism was remarkable by its absence.
Compare it to George W Bush years, a president who claimed he was untouched before he was choked on the pretzel when the Americans were routinely ridiculed like fat, unconscious and arrogant. New Yorkrs on holiday were forced to feel personally responsible for war crimes. On the eve of the Iraqi War, Europeans joked about the difference between yogurt and the Americans. The Punchline: After a while Yogurt develops some culture.
The then French President, Jacques Chirac, said he had a simple principle in foreign matters: “I see what the Americans are doing, and I do the opposite. I am sure I am right.” As they laughed. This was not only about anti -American Islamist terrorism, but of anti -American Latin American populists such as Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.
In 2025, however, anti -Americanism changed. Jokes about nationality get so comfortable. It is right to blame citizens for their government, especially if the Americans we most likely encounter, desperate democrats.
In any case, Netflix and social media tied us. When you decide to consume it daily, you can't really reject American culture. Go to Paris today and see how easily people speak English. Go to London and the puzzle for the number of NFL fans. Judging by the signal reports of JD Vance and Pete HegSeth, Trump is more anti -European than Europeans anti -American.
Those who forgave X Elon Musk's X have moved to another net on the west coast of Blues. European car buyers boycott Tesla, but would buy a good American alternative. Just as the most effective stop Bush came from American filmmaker, Michael Moora, the best criticism of Trump and Muska probably also come from the US itself. America is work and opposite.
Diplomatically, anti -Americanism does not fit into the moment. Trump reconciled with one regime that was a fanatically anti-American under the bushem-tj. Putin's Russian-and even does sporadic gestures Chavist Venezuela. Europeans are hardly in an anti -iimperial mood: they want American protection, not withdrawal.
Bush's lessons are that presidential idiotism is temporary. Five and a half years after Iraq's attack, Barack Obama elected President. Anti -Americanism resembles the amputation of your broken leg, instead of waiting for it to recover.
But if it is wrong to connect the Americans and their president, it is wrong to separate them completely. Trump reflects half of America. It reflects a society where the democratic majority is ready to tolerate mass shooting and a distorted political system. America provides so many cultural backgrounds of the world that we sometimes confuse it for our own country. It is not, even if Democrat is president.
Just last spring, during the Presidency Joe Biden, the USA were Adversely At least half of the public in Greece, Singapore and Australia AO more than 40 percent in Britain and Canada. The next time the loser asks the question, they will undoubtedly find a record western disillusionment.
Europeans – and Canadians and others – realize that we have our own values and do not take to stand for them. Boycott cream cheese Philadelphia if you feel better. However, most Europeans see that times are now too serious for knee anti -Americanism.
Henry Mance is the main features of FT
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