But if Europe has to rely less on the United States, is that really a bad thing? For decades, European governments have leaned heavily on the U.S. for military power, medical innovation, medical supplies, et cetera, all while coasting on a higher level of cultural prestige for their less belligerent foreign policies and more humane health care systems.

It is always fun for Europeans to talk about how appalling it is that Americans can go bankrupt paying for medicines, but it bears the odor of hypocrisy as long as European health care is reliant on American blood. That is not a hyperbolic, faux-poetic flourish. The EU has been attempting to achieve more independence in pharmaceutical production, but it relies on imports of American blood—or, more specifically, American blood plasma.

Of course, the relationship is not a charitable one. European states buy military and medical resources, as well as much else besides. Still, achieving more societal independence, with more spending on defense and innovation, is cause to celebrate, not cause for sadness. Europeans cannot simultaneously announce their almost unanimous distrust for Donald Trump and premise their future on the blithe assumption of endless American resources and security.