Suddenly it is all too clear. There is very little that binds together the different sections of what used to be called the Western world. The ascendancy of the 2025 Trump Presidency has crystallised the trend towards the fragmentation of global westernism. America looks inward and an all too ignored Europe knows that its fragility and weakness stands exposed.

The current conflict between Europe and America is not reducible to contrasting approaches towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nor is this simply a conflict over tariffs and trade. Yes, we see the forceful assertion of American national interest but the dynamic set in play is not merely the latest version of the usual competitive positioning between different powers.

The recent revelation of the supposedly secret conversation between senior American top administration officials on Signal showed that what was at issue was not merely an ordinary security breach. The manner of the revelation and the attitudes expressed by the participants in the conversation indicated that what used to be known as the West, or the Western Alliance, has become emptied of any substantive content. The tone of contempt that the participants directed towards Europe and Europeans served as testimony to a serious cultural rupture between the two continents. No doubt sections of the European elites feel similarly towards their ‘uncouth’ American cousins in the Trump Administration.

It is difficult to predict how the unfolding drama will play out or whether it will reach the stage of a Western familicide. There must still be a few cool heads left and the geopolitical rupture between the two continents runs in parallel with a fundamental cultural conflict within all sections of the western world. However, the outcome of the clash between Europe and America will not be entirely determined by the main protagonists. There are global powerful forces at work leading to the intensification of economic and political rivalries. The strategic positioning that this induces heralds a new era of realpolitik—one where the main players are less and less likely to be inhibited about the open projection of military power. And of course there is China, Russia and India ready to grasp any opportunity provided by the fallout from the All-Western showdown.