They’re also following the new loyalty line established in the Oval Office: the EU was created to screw the US, Europeans are ungrateful spongers, and they aren’t showing Trump and MAGA any respect. Like a schoolboy gang, they need to keep amping up the vitriol to reinforce that they belong.
Sam's captured the key thing here but I'd also add that there's a mutual element to it. Over on mainland Europe anti-Americanism that people have flaunted openly and casually since well before Trump that most Americans were blissfully unaware of and European politicians didnt listen to.
Europe's reaction to Trump's first term was so bad it cascaded up to a political level and set the stage.
Also MAGAs seem to take real issue with smaller countries not following orders. It's why Vance hates Ukraine, but also why they resent us opting to help Ukraine against Trump's wishes.
On a personal level look into Vance's personal history. He grew up feeling unloved and unwanted, there's an element of envy here, of feeling rejected, wanting to be respected and admired. But he's from exactly the kind of redneck America that Europeans sneer at.
Yes, but there must be at least some of that propaganda that is concocted specifically for them as the target audience, - to continue to feed their prejudices ?
Exactly this. I have a fake far-right-winger account on X and the whole feed is full of race-baiting contextless videos claiming to be from European cities painting a picture of ubiquitous mass violence by non-white people. Europe must look terrifying to anyone buying into it who doesn't know better
I disagree with this. They hate the idea of a social democracy and the fact that so many of the people in the US that they look down on - and have a chip on their shoulder about - point to Europe as ideals of that. I sincerely doubt they would know Europe existed otherwise.
It’s this. It’s the same thing that happens when arrogant & small-minded people obsessed w/their cultural status quo as “normality” encounter vegetarians/vegans, atheists, someone intentionally child-free, etc.: the notion that someone can consciously choose a different path triggers their egos.
Agreed. That's partly why villains in movies often have a British accent.
And Donald Rumsfeld carved the continent up into the old (bad) and new (good) Europe back in the lead up the the second Gulf war. https://www.rferl.org/a/1102012.html
Yes, that's true. Ethnonationalists have long held particular contempt for their co-ethnics who reject their worldview, as it disproves empirically that all of their co-ethnics share an exclusive identity. See eg 'race traitors' & in extremis murders of white anti-racists like James Reeb 60 yrs ago
I actually think, they are jealous that Europe works so well, that Europe is grounded in the past and for all it’s faults has never fully embraced unbridled capitalism and Europe is better for it. These people hate that other Americans are discovering that Europe is pretty cool to live in.
A sense of insecurity about their own country and values plays a big part, I think. The fact that Americans must constantly shout about how free, how brave, how great they are - betrays a feeling that they are not so certain that they're indeed that great.
I've been living in the States for most of the last 15 years, and the constant declarations about how free they are always puts me in mind of that party bore who feels compelled to tell you he has a great sense of humour.
I had countless arguments lately here, also with some very intelligent people, who insist that the USA are a cautionary tale for the rest of the world. Before, the same people used to believe that the USA were a model. They are neither, since both imply that American exceptionalism is real.
This flows with my thoughts too.They’ve achieved many great things with their capitalist system,but have now that they are not as great as they continue to pretend. Sadly though,they believe that doubling down on capitalism and American hegemony is somehow going to make them great again. I doubt it.
Little addendum: let's not fool ourselves that everything is going back to normal under the next Democratic admin: the relationship has changed forever. The Democratic Party base is not exactly in love with Europe either. We're either too racist, too colonialist or not progressive enough for them.
That has been bipartisan policy since the 1890s. “Anti-colonial imperialism”, in William Appleman Williams’ term. The US have all the market access they need. This is different, driven by racial animus, and oblivious to gains from trade. The “race traitor” argument made above makes more sense.
As a Yank with ~20yrs in France & 5yrs in UK, I'd say this has to do with US intra-elite class identity fault lines pitting nativist rustics vs cosmopolitan sophisticates.
Eur is an exclusive but dependent club that rejects them & the toxic effect of the power asymmetry amplifies their resentment.
But it's important to recognize that the effect of the power asymmetry & dependency really is toxic across the US natsec/forpol community. It establishes a paternalistic relationship that post-USSR can only ever be benign (Clinton & Obama) or abusive (GWB & Trump).
For people like Hegseth, who reduce all power and strength to military hard power, any state that is militarily vulnerable and dependent is pathetic. The one exception is Israel, and that is largely due to the evangelical Christian need for Israel to exist.
Final thought: From my experience, this same kind of intra-elite fault line exists in France and the UK, as well, and the natsec/forpol expression of it is similarly directed to where there are power asymmetries in bilateral relations. France and Africa is a good example, but there are others.
Yeah, the defining characteristic is that none of them have ever lived here, or probably even travelled abroad much (other than on military deployments).
Yes - it's very triggering for them. This cartoon Europe that the right-wing media echo chamber has created pretty much contains every single thing that they say they hate.
Severely disturbed personalities who need to subjugate others in order to enhance their own self-worth feel threatened by a Europe that has evolved into something aimed at preventing dominance among themselves. the European ideal turns these psychos into nobodies. So they like the lies about us.
It’s not like the chat that is in the public domain is awash with sophisticated argument. Striking feature was how frighteningly fatuous it appeared. Adolescents amping up the nastiness in a bid to curry the most favour with the alpha bully.
Exactly this. When JD lectured the Munich Security conference, half the crap he came out with about the UK I had never even heard of (lived here my entire life). It would have been alien to anyone who doesn't reside in the right wing fringes of social media.
The Britain in People’s heads - few weeks ago was abroad and people were very worried about getting mugged in London and surprised that I’m not more scared.
I think that’s only part of it. It feels like they’re reacting to their feeling that Europe *should* be the freedom-loving West and yet they vote for liberal ideals like social justice, gun control, a welfare state etc. They feel they can move sharply to the right, so why don’t we?
I think it’s the other way around. They wrote about Europe like that because of their loathing. It’s the same image of Europe as is promoted in Hungary. I suspect it’s deeply racist, misogynist, and homophobic. But why exactly, would be worth finding out
It's the same thing - this article shows the relationship with right wing entities in Europe and the US-based Heritage Foundation that's delivering their 2025 Project.
Exactly the conversation we had with American MAGA relative last summer. Wouldn't consider visiting London as it's violent and dangerous. Also Ukraine issue purely transactional. What do we get for our money. It was a difficult conversation.
Yeah that's exactly what I thought, social media radicalisation and you will have bad faith actors from Europe coming and telling they are right to be worried at like minded conferences... Not looking at Liz Truss etc
convinced this is 100% it and I wish it were covered more. The information environment a lot of these guys read from *directly* (like these are not 2nd hand impressions, they are direct subscribers/mutuals) take a civilizational decline view of Europe - a decline that she inflicted on herself!
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Also MAGAs seem to take real issue with smaller countries not following orders. It's why Vance hates Ukraine, but also why they resent us opting to help Ukraine against Trump's wishes.
And Donald Rumsfeld carved the continent up into the old (bad) and new (good) Europe back in the lead up the the second Gulf war.
https://www.rferl.org/a/1102012.html
Vance is owned by Peter Thiel
Though dunno how much influence they have in this regime given RFKJr
Eur is an exclusive but dependent club that rejects them & the toxic effect of the power asymmetry amplifies their resentment.
Alex's point is a good one, too.
This is maybe one of the valuable lesson all liberal democracies must use
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/right-wing-push-to-dismantle-the-eu-heritage-foundations-private-workshop/