Europe Is Already Tired of Trump

Welcome to the Wanders's Voice Podcast.
The Op-Ed for Americans Who Don't Fit in Boxes
This Commentary is for The Week ending May 26, 2017

Angela Merkel looks on as Trump makes a bad wiretapping joke at their joint press conference in Washington on 3/17/17 (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

So here we are.  70 years of an alliance that has kept the world from spinning into another global conflict may be irreparably broken.  It only took two meetings for Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and the most powerful woman in Europe to publicly write off the United States and Britain as reliable partners in international affairs, saying Europe can no longer "completely depend" on them.  She also opened the door to more cooperation with Vladimir Putin despite his clear meddling in global elections.  This is the most dangerous development in the 4 months (I know it feels more like years) this administration of ignorance has been in power.

I'm not going go into some boring lecture of why populism is dangerous or the exhaustive list of the POTUS's missteps that brought us to this point.  I'll simply point out the last time that the United States and Germany were at odds was World War II and the last time the United States adopted an isolationist "America First" style policy was World War I.  In fact, in the last century, every time the United States has pulled back from its role as an international leader, chaos has followed.  Note that I said leader, not interventionist.  Not colonizer.  Not meddler.  Not agent of regime change.

Leader.  Diplomatic Leader to be precise.

Despite the xenophobic beliefs of 45 and his legion of misinformed misanthropes, international leadership has been the biggest reason the United States and by extension, the United Nations, has been able to keep the peace since the rise of the atomic age.  Despite the endless parade of would-be dictators in Russia, North Korea, China, and the Middle East, the closest we've come to WWIII has only been the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962. Why?  Bullies aren't so quick to throw punches when they know backup is just a phone call away.  Free trade agreements like TPP and NAFTA and T-TIP(EU free trade), strengthen economic ties and provide an incentive for less developed nations to provide intelligence, military support, and economic advantages that hold countries like Russia and China in check.  It's a delicate balance that worked well before being abused by war profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater and big businesses that continually make staffing decisions based on profit instead of patriotism.  Translation: Outsourcing.  Profit isn't evil but at what cost?  The current administration, aided by almost 30 years of racist misinformation like the notional that non-whites, immigrants, and the poor are the root of all of America's problems, seems to have abandoned not only the status quo but all sense of reason.  Withdrawing from the world stage while simultaneously lecturing our allies like misbehaving children have now created a power vacuum.  Trump's antics aren't just the musings of a cranky old man who's "draining the swamp."  His impulsiveness, lack of diplomacy (some would say even decency) and unpredictability have made America at best a laughing stock and at worst, untrustworthy.  The proof is the people we've depended on as an extension of our policies and power for almost a century just told us to diplomatically fuck off and opened the door for Putin to have even greater influence in Europe.

The implications of Merkel's stance are probably more than I'm aware of since I'm merely an observer but even with my limited access there are 3 things that worry me.  

1. Trade war.  As I've said before, free trade agreements allow countries to flourish.  A return to old style tit for tat taxes on imported goods only hurts consumers.
2. Emboldening our enemies.  I said before bullies prey on the weak.  "America First" ignores the security strength in numbers provides for all nations.
3. Global war.  I also said nature abhors a vacuum.  An isolationist America takes the largest bully on the block off the chessboard opening the door for Russia to fulfill Putin's plan to return his country to its USSR roots.

If you somehow ignore all of this and still think 45 is some sort of mad genius you need to ask yourself two very important questions.  

First, are you loyal to your country or you loyal to Trump?

Second, What would Reagan do?