Trump’s Return
For Europe, the Next US President Is a Shock—and a Catalyst for Change
A second Trump administration looks like a disaster for the region. It might also—finally—shake the continent out of its torpor.
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If the European Union had a mascot, it would be the ostrich. Putting your head in the sand and hoping your problems will disappear is the EU’s chosen style—so much so that the trade bloc responded to Brexit and the loss of its second-biggest economy in 2016 by … muddling through with business as usual.
The continent that gave the world some of its most evocative political slogans (“Liberty, equality, fraternity,” “We will never surrender”) now follows the supposed mantra of the most recent person with any reasonable claim to the title of Europe’s ruler, Angela Merkel: “Wait and see.”