Us Europeans are just baffled by the fact that this ‘administration’ wants this. The EU is a big economy that’s relatively easy to deal with. Why would you alienate us?
But yeah so far Trump has been relatively true to his word, as far as it goes. Not really practically but going further down the road of a dare I say fascist outlook. I think Europeans still can’t believe it’s happening, much less intentionally so.
> The EU is a big economy that’s relatively easy to deal with. Why would you alienate us?
Easy to deal with? We basically subsidize your entire existence. The fact that you can't understand this is exactly why this administration is doing this. We have too many problems at home to be daddy with a credit card.
At every level Europe is getting in the way of the US mindset of building and pushing forward. You "regulate" our tech companies, which let's be honest here, is a euphemism for extortion. You try to destroy moats that innovators have risked everything to build, not in the name of competition or an egalitarian society, because you believe that excellence is not worthy of being rewarded. Your culture has the mindset that excellence is not a product of hard work and determination, it's a product of luck and nepotism, so any hint of excellence gets taken away and diminished. It's a coping mechanism for your own lack at a society scale. Your people are snobby and literally think you're better than us while we pump trillions into your economies.
And what do you have to offer us? Tourist destinations and luxury goods? No thanks.
Without us it will quickly become apparent what your society is behind all of that exuberance and arrogance. Your right wing will become a problem again in decades and you will revert back to the endless wars with your neighbors in territorial disputes.
You are effectively saying that Europe should be a vassal state to the US and cannot have its own laws. Europe has a different vision on privacy and competition. The regulation asks for e.g. Apple are peanuts compared to what China asks. Apple bends back over to please China, but if Europe has some requirements for doing business part of the US do the tired trope “US innovates, Europe regulates”.
We have too many problems at home to be daddy with a credit card.
First, this is rich for a country living on borrowed money (that they can only get away with because the rest of the world uses it as the default currency).
Second, a lot of the problems of the US are caused by the lack of proper wealth redistribution, lack of efficient health care (no, the US doesn’t subsidize European healthcare, European countries spend far less on healthcare with better outcomes). It’s not solved by throwing lifelong allies under the bus and trading the for some dictator friends.
Finally, the security situation also arisen because the US did not want European militaries to become too powerful and has pushed a lot to be dependent on the US and US tech. For instance, countries have to buy US fighters for nuclear sharing, etc. The primary exception is France because they never wanted to be reliant and have their own nuclear force, etc.
Also let’s not forget Article 5 was only invoked once (by the US) and we were happy to help, because that’s what friends do. We have been in Afghanistan for over 20 years as a result and a lot of our soldiers died and were injured.
To be fair, the GP claimed to have a credit card, not a salary.
> The fact that you can't understand this is exactly why this administration is doing this.
> because you believe that excellence is not worthy of being rewarded. Your culture has the mindset that excellence is not a product of hard work and determination, it's a product of luck and nepotism, so any hint of excellence gets taken away and diminished.
This administration does not believe in rewarding excellence, hard work, or determination. It’s an administration by the most malicious, incompetent people who have ever led this country.