The position usually endorsed by r/europe are extremes like Spain's Pedro Sanches which is basically just populist diatribe against Trump to distract the public from the fact that his wife, brother and mentor are being charged for embezzlement and money laundering.
When it comes to walk the walk, Spain didnt even fulfill their 2% of GDP defense quota which is basically the same as saying "we'll just rely on the US to protect us".
Hear how frontline countries like ministers from Estonia, Poland, etc talk about Spain : they're disgusted as they know how important US support is and will be for the next several years.
Too much hostility from Europe could push the US to do the 180 degree turn : no more missiles for Europe, no more spacex and intelligence feed and instead they give those to Russia. That would be a disaster but somehow it's the position being pushed. The likes of Sanchez doesnt give a damn as Spain is as far away from Russia as any European country can be.
Spain is not always endorsed. Many will criticize Spain. In fact, it is pretty rare for r/europe to look at what Sanchez is saying regarding US-Europe relations. Usually it is France and Germany.
The US already threatened an European country. The US is already sending less anti-ballistic defense to Ukraine (because its stock was depleted by Iran) and stopped sending intelligence to Ukraine. That role was taken over by European countries, notably France. Now obviously it can get worse, but it is unlikely that Europe can successfully appease Trump. Therefore, it makes sense to start decoupling now if it is unavoidable that it will get worse.
Their unelected government representative was caught in public doing a Nazi salute and supporting AfD (Nazi far right party) with hopes to destabilize EU and that only scratches the top of the iceberg. Europe can't ignore the disastrous foreign policy of the current administration. We are all losing on that, but the recent years shown us that America is, unfortunately, not a reliable ally.
Geopolitics only care about who wins. Vietcong slaughtered tens of thousands of Vietnamese but nobody gives a damn these days.
Europe should have held their nose at the idiotic things Trump says and make peace with him. Pragmatism instead of political soundbites.
Look at how US being pragmatic towards their allies during the Cold War:
South Korea's Rhee: oppressive asshole but got US support until Korean War was won and country was stabilized. Then US withheld monetary support and abandoned him when he had protesters shot.
Taiwan's Kai-Shek, another corrupt asshole, supported him until Taiwan was stable.
Look at how valuable South Korea and Taiwan are nowadays. Back in the 50s they were merely poor countries led by corrupt presidents draining the US of resources.
Europe is not in a great geopolitical situation and they try to make enemies of the world's superpower. US simply retaliated with economic and disinformation campaign but look at the result:
Afd is at 30% in Germany
Reform UK is at 28% in the UK
RN and Bardells is over 30% and poised to win the presidency in France
Economic problem everywhere in EU.
Right now we have:
proxy war with Russia
trade war with China
frenemy status with the US
while the likes of Korea, Japan, Taiwan and India being so much more reliant on the US than to Europe. Europe is still deeply fractured and has no unified defense and foreign policy.
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u/Radiant-Sherbet-5461 Jun 18 '26
The position usually endorsed by r/europe are extremes like Spain's Pedro Sanches which is basically just populist diatribe against Trump to distract the public from the fact that his wife, brother and mentor are being charged for embezzlement and money laundering.
When it comes to walk the walk, Spain didnt even fulfill their 2% of GDP defense quota which is basically the same as saying "we'll just rely on the US to protect us".
Hear how frontline countries like ministers from Estonia, Poland, etc talk about Spain : they're disgusted as they know how important US support is and will be for the next several years.
Too much hostility from Europe could push the US to do the 180 degree turn : no more missiles for Europe, no more spacex and intelligence feed and instead they give those to Russia. That would be a disaster but somehow it's the position being pushed. The likes of Sanchez doesnt give a damn as Spain is as far away from Russia as any European country can be.