One of the most bizarre and, in an odd way, amusing phenomena associated with Trump's foreign policy is how angry the transnational elite is that President Trump is demanding that the continent's powers act like sovereign countries that can stand on their own.
The kvetching and even outrage that America is demanding that these countries make real commitments to defending themselves is a wonder to behold.
🇪🇺 VON DER LEYEN TO EUROPE: DEFEND YOURSELF, AMERICA'S NOT COMING
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 17, 2025
"Europe must be responsible for its own security. This is no longer an option. It is a must."
Von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg today.
Then came the shot at Washington: "Europe cannot… pic.twitter.com/rOyEjb2h2d
VON DER LEYEN TO EUROPE: DEFEND YOURSELF, AMERICA'S NOT COMING
"Europe must be responsible for its own security. This is no longer an option. It is a must."
Von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg today.
Then came the shot at Washington: "Europe cannot afford to let others define its worldview."
She's specifically responding to Trump's national security strategy claiming Europe's share of global GDP is declining.
Her answer: "The United States is on the same path."
Translation: Stop lecturing us about economic irrelevance when you're headed the same direction.
This isn't new rhetoric from von der Leyen - she's been hammering "Europe's independence moment" since September's State of the Union. But the timing matters.
Trump's team is pressuring Europe to fund Ukraine defense while simultaneously cutting trade deals that Europeans see as humiliating concessions.
Von der Leyen's ReArm plan calls for €800 billion in defense spending. Drone Wall monitoring eastern borders. 65% of SAFE-funded projects must be EU-based production.
The subtext: NATO's Article 5 guarantee isn't guaranteed anymore. Europe's watching Trump cozy up to Putin while demanding they solve their own problems.
So von der Leyen's saying fine, we'll build our own deterrence. But it's going to be European manufacturers, European supply chains, European command structures.
40 years ago the continent was divided by a wall. Now they're building another one - this time to keep Russia's drones out.
And they're doing it without asking Washington's permission.
It is bizarre how much resentment Trump's moves have elicited, given how many trillions the United States has spent defending Europe over the past 80 years, and if you include our intervention in World War I, over 100. We have expended innumerable lives and almost unimaginable amounts of American treasure, ensuring the peace and security of a continent dominated by powers that do little but insult us and work mightily to impose their self-destructive policies on the United States.
Since the end of the Cold War, the countries of the European Union have essentially demilitarized, becoming utterly incapable of even defending their borders, and absolutely incapable of defending their allies or their essential national interests. They have relied on the United States to ensure their security, even after successive presidents have made clear that we will not tolerate their behavior indefinitely.
The latest example is the war in Ukraine, which European countries claim is an existential threat, as is their right and perhaps duty. Yet most of their focus has been on pressuring the United States to go beyond its treaty obligations and defend a country that is not in itself a vital security interest of the United States.
One could argue whether it is wise or not to be involved in the war—it's possible that a loss by Ukraine could provide a notional threat in some future scenario, although I doubt it—but it's a European war, and Europe should take the lead and demonstrate that their actions meet their claims.
Now that Trump has made it crystal clear that the US will meet its treaty obligations, but will require Europe do the same and take responsibility for pursuing its interests outside those obligations on its own, Europeans are furious and having a tantrum. arguing that it is grossly unfair for the United States not to bear the burden of Europe's foreign policy, as they focus on regulating speech in the US and the destruction of the US economy.
Europe wants to be the regulatory superpower and to have the US be its foreign policy enforcement arm, and is quite mad that Trump has told them "No."
The irony is that they are threatening us with...doing what Trump demands, which is to assume part of the burden of self-defense.
Please, throw us in the briar patch.
Ursula van der Leyen's petulant outburst, which amounts to "yes, Europe is declining, but so are you!," is childish. While the United States surely has its problems that Trump is trying to fix, the decline in Europe is stark, while the US economy has been doing laps around it.
Sixteen years ago, the US and EU economies were nearly equal in size.
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) December 30, 2024
Today, the US economy is 50% larger than the EU.
Europe is being STRANGLED by the EU and its Commission President von der Leyen's red tape. pic.twitter.com/NC23A1QZNZ
Nobody doubts that the US would be even further ahead if we weren't subsidizing Europe's self-destruction.
Any sane person should fully support Europe's rearmament, even if they have to be dragged into adulthood kicking and screaming. They are behaving like children who are threatening to run away, not mature adults capable of standing on their own two feet.
The EU’s problem isn’t Belgium — it’s Trump.https://t.co/M61nmoBEs2
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) December 17, 2025
The irony of their claims is stark:
A high-stakes disagreement between European governments on using Russian assets frozen since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to fund the county’s rebuilding lays bare a deeper division across the continent over how to deal with a new world order and unprecedented pressure from the U.S.
“They want to make us weak,” said a senior EU official with knowledge of the transatlantic relationship and preparations for the summit.
Trump: "Spend more on defense so you can stand on your own without being dependent on the US for everything."
EU official: "Trump is trying to make us weak!"
As JD Vance would say: "Do you hear yourself?"
It is the logic of transnationalists that they believe that the technocrats should be able to determine policy, and the United States should meekly obey and do the real work. We are the rubes from Appalachia who are expected to do the dying while they direct the policies and expand their dying welfare states.
They point to their social insurance system as proof they are superior to us, but the fact is that the US subsidizes their creaky systems by paying for their defense, and they still can't afford to keep these systems going because they have hobbled their economies with regulations that are strangling them.
I suppose I shouldn't be annoyed so much, as long as the Europeans step up. Except we are subjected to the same whining from American transnationalists who share the European vision, and for decades, they have worked to ensure that the Regulatory Superpower/Security Superpower relationship is implemented. If the Democrats get back in control, or the Bushites, back to the idiocy we will go.
Europe can and should reverse its decline. The US needs reliable partners, and a healthy Europe is good for America and the world. Unfortunately, we have been encouraging European decline through transnationalist policies that serve to weaken both the US and Europe.
When we look back on World War II, who do we admire? Vichy France, or Winston Churchill, who understood that partnership with the US was vital to saving Europe, but who also understood that the partnership had to be based on strength.
Europe needs to quit demanding we enable their own self-destruction, and give a resounding "No" to their demand we join them on the path to cultural self-destruction.
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