Why Trump has become an extremely dangerous challenge for Europe
The peaceful handover of presidential power has been a political norm in the United States since the end of George Washington’s second term 228 years ago. Notwithstanding a bloody civil war in the 1860s, this tradition has been a hallmark of stability, establishing the US as the modern world’s oldest democracy.
But America’s status and role in the world will change with Donald Trump’s second inauguration. The occasion comes four years after Trump tried to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
Trump has made clear that he wants much more than just a change of personnel or policy in Washington. His real objective is to transform the US system from a democracy into one ruled by the wealthy and powerful, rightly called an "oligarchy."
Read more about what Trump’s presidency means and the risks it poses for Europe in the column by Joschka Fischer, Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister (1998–2005) – Trump at the gates: how Europe must change to face new challenges.
The author warns that if Trump succeeds in effecting this shift, democracy will be imperiled worldwide.
"Europeans never expected much good to come from another Trump presidency. But few here, including me, anticipated Trump’s pre-inauguration pivot toward imperialism and revisionist territorial claims backed by the threat of violence against a NATO ally. This development exceeded my most pessimistic expectations. It was bad enough that Europe would be left to deal with Russia’s neo-imperialist aggression on its own. Now, it will be squeezed by neo-imperialist powers from both sides," Fischer notes.
According to him, the age of raw power politics is here, and the course of world affairs will be dictated by the dominant superpowers, not rules, norms, or traditions.
"If Europe clings to its cherished conception of sovereign nation-states, it will relegate itself to the status of a middling power – or worse," Fischer warns.
He emphasises that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are forcing the old Europe to decide, here and now, which future it wants.
"Europe has the technological skills, expertise, and financial resources to defend its interests in the twenty-first century. But that cannot compensate for what Europe lacks most: the political will to act as a cohesive power on the world stage.
If Europeans are going to secure their own future, they can no longer afford merely to talk about it. They must do it," Fischer concludes.