As tensions with Trump deepen, Europe wonders if America is lost for good

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BERLIN — Since Jan. 20, 2017, European leaders have managed U.S. relations with one eye on the clock, anxiously counting down the hours until President Trump’s term is up and hoping the core of the Western alliance isn’t too badly damaged in the meantime.

But as Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward America’s closest allies has evolved into hostile action this spring, a new fear has swept European capitals.

Trump may not be an aberration that can be waited out, with his successor likely to push reset after four or eight years of fraught ties. Instead, the blend of unilateralism, nationalism and protectionism Trump embodies may be the new American normal.

“It is dawning on a number of European players that Trump may not be an outlier,” said Josef Janning, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “More and more people are seeing it as a larger change in the United States.”

Even before Trump was elected, Europeans sensed that Washington’s traditional role as guarantor of the continent’s security and stability was slipping away, and that post-World War II ties were fading along with the generations that forged them.

But Trump’s seeming delight in smashing transatlantic bonds — and the lack of domestic constraints on his ability to do so — has signaled, Janning said, that the basis for Western strength and peace for 70-plus years “probably won’t come back.”

That carries serious implications for how Europe responds to Trump. Until now, key leaders have avoided open conflict with the U.S. president, trying instead to placate him or, at best, subtly persuade him. Above all, they have sought to preserve strong relationships at various levels within the U.S. government, if not with the man at the top of it, so there’s a foundation to build on after he is gone.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-tensions-with-trump-deepen-europe-wonders-if-america-is-lost-for-good/ar-AAxw4Je?li=BBnb7Kz

MAGA baby!!!

[Chickensoup]

1. The longer that ugly man remain

in office the more we all lose.

[Turbineguy]

2. Have the republicans found a replacement for trump?

Sarah Palin is dumb enough, but not corrupt enough. Charlie Manson is dead.

Surely there must be somebody out there worse than trump to be president?

[RKP5637]

7. President Pence. UGH! He is silent and ugly ... and will work to turn the US into a horrific

theocracy. IMO he's worse than Trump. It will be a christian-taliban-nazi regime.

[Doreen]

9. Pence will silently bite like a poisonous snake and

take our ability to breath like a silent fart in church. He is smart unlike trump.

[RKP5637]

12. Yep, he is smart. Pence is damn scary. n/t

[Doreen]

14. Trump is evil but Pence is "eviler." My new word.

[RKP5637]

16. Good word!!! n/t

[Doreen]

19. Thank you. Everyone may use it.

I know it has more than likely been used before but hey, it is a good one to share with each other.

[roamer65]

10. Here's how to neuter a President Dense.

1. Flip both houses of Congress in November.
2. Keep the Russia investigation going even if Spanky leaves office.

[RKP5637]

13. That, is our best hope !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

3. That change was always inevitable

Trump is just making it happen much faster than it had to. It's past time for Europe to plan ahead for a world not dominated by America.

[TimeSnowDemos]

4. This is happening all around me

I'm in Ireland, and not a day goes by without some commentator suggesting that the US is no longer a reliable partner or ally on many issues.

If you haven't seen the recent Der Speigel article about this, check it out:

"Time for Europe to Join the Resistance"

"The most shocking realization, however, is one that affects us directly: The West as we once knew it no longer exists. Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership. President Trump has adopted a tone that ignores 70 years of trust. He wants punitive tariffs and demands obedience. It is no longer a question as to whether Germany and Europe will take part in foreign military interventions in Afghanistan or Iraq. It is now about whether trans-Atlantic cooperation on economic, foreign and security policy even exists anymore. The answer: No. It is impossible to overstate what Trump has dismantled in the last 16 months. Europe has lost its protective power. It has lost its guarantor of joint values. And it has lost the global political influence that it was only able to exert because the U.S. stood by its side. And what will happen in the remaining two-and-a-half years (or six-and-a-half years) of Trump's leadership? There is plenty of time left for further escalation."

http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/editorial-trump-deals-painful-blow-to-trans-atlantic-ties-a-1207260.html

[RKP5637]

8. Sad, but quite true IMO. "The US is no longer a reliable partner or ally." It's damn pathetic. n/t

[napi21]

5. So Europe is counting the hours 'till he's gone? So are WE!!!!!!

Even some of the cable channels are stating "This number XXX of the Trump administration".

I TOO hope & pray that we can hit the reset button and get our reputation back!

[Blue_true]

15. We need to vote and ignore the Our Revolution assholes.

If we don't do both, we are stuck with Trump for 6 and a half more years. Who knows how much damage he can do in that time.

[RKP5637]

6. The US is fragmenting into multiple personalities and tribal behavior. At one time it seemed, for

the most part (and far from perfect) to be a cohesive country, that one could depend on. That, has been fraying for some time and Trump has ripped off all of the healing scabs and used hostility and hatefulness as his collective energy.

Others are turning away from the US and as they do, they are finding alternatives to dealing with the US, which IMO will become more isolated in the coming years if Trump and his regime continue.

It's not a pleasant place. True, people have groups, friends, family they feel comfortable with, but with Trump and his regime even that is fragmenting.

In short, the US under Trump is not a welcoming place and sadly will likely find the rest of the world turning away.

[Doreen]

11. I actually cried the day Merkel said " trump-led U.S. is no longer a reliable ally.

[CrispyQ]

17. The damage he's done in 17 months is staggering.

If the dems don't gain control of at least one chamber of congress in November, many of our institutions will be rubble by 2020. McConnell's already made "generational changes" to the judiciary.

[kimbutgar]

18. Watching tv in Frankfurt this past March.

I heard a tv news person say that America’s best days are behind it and it is up to China to become the worlds leader as Putin is corrupt like Twitler. I was kind of stunned watching this in my hotel room. And I realized I can no longer say I am a proud American. Twitler has wrecked our reputation. We no longer adhere to past Agreements and he has let a foreign country bascically dictate our foreign policy. And now he is intent on dismantling our intelligence agencies and justice system.

I don’t know how or when but he must be stopped.

[Westcoast52]

20. Nations Sometimes Go Senile/Demented Too

Doreen: So sorry for your tears. After eight years of cool, calm 'No-Drama Obama', it all became too much for the whites losing their jobs and futures. Now it's an orgy of vandalism to prove to ourselves we're still the greatest. No foreign perceptions of America filter through the corporate bubble. I can still remember Freedom Fries.