Libertarians, progressives, and national conservatives who've been pining for a de-Americanization of European military security are experiencing their most newsworthy week on that front in at least three decades.
The Trump administration's ongoing negotiations and public messaging around a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, along with the weekend electoral victory of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), have led to the bluntest talk since April 1993 about a future without Washington's mutual defense commitments to the easternmost members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
"My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the U.S.A.," presumptive German chancellor Friedrich Merz said just after his long-prominent CDU—along with its Bavaria-only partner, the Christian Social Union—beat out the White House-favored Alternative for Germany* (AfD), 28.6 percent to 20.8 percent. "I never thought I would have to say something like this….But after [President] Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans—at least this part of the Americans, this administration—are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe."
