Devastating interview with the President of the United States, who doesn’t like the direction Europe is taking, but also finds people he likes in these parts. Among them are Viktor Orbán and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Europe is “decadent” and is being led by “weak” people. These are harsh words and came from the mouth of the President of the United States, who was considered by the United States to be the most powerful person on the Old Continent, the first time that the website attributes this distinction to a North American.
Donald Trump sees a particular failure in Europe’s inability to control immigration or make efforts to end the war in Ukraine, in a conflict in which the United States has sided with Russia while Europe stands firm in its uncompromising defense of Ukraine.
It’s not that this is exactly the first time that Donald Trump or his entourage has attacked Europe – just look at Elon Musk’s recent activity on X -, but these words are particularly harsh, in addition to being accompanied by a kind of threat to the current leaders.
The fact is that, unhappy with whoever is in charge here at the moment, the North American president even admits to supporting candidates aligned with his vision for the future.
“I think they are weak. But I also think they really want to be politically correct”, he said, seeing a Europe that “doesn’t know what to do”.
“Their immigration policy is a disaster. What they are doing with immigration is a disaster. We had a catastrophe on the way, but I managed to stop it. Now we have no people passing through our borders, zero, seven months. I mean, who would believe in zero? We went from millions of people – in some cases, millions of people a month – but from millions of people to no people”, he shot.
Comments are especially worrying at the time they appear, as negotiations to end the war in Ukraine continue and the United States appears to be leaning more and more towards Russia’s side.
This has already led European leaders to issue several alarms – Emmanuel Macron even warned of betrayal -, fearing that the United States will abandon not only Ukraine, but also Europe itself, a historic ally.
Directly questioned about his vision, Donald Trump did not leave any guarantees to Europe, even mentioning that Russia was clearly in a stronger position than Ukraine.
Added to this is the recently known , in which the White House highlights a risk of a “civilizational blackout” in Europe, particularly because of the way it is dealing with issues such as immigration.
It is under this weight that, for Donald Trump, cities like London and Paris are giving in, particularly with people arriving from the Middle East and Africa. Without a change in current border policies, the President of the United States predicts that some European countries “will no longer be viable”.
Trying to be more specific, Donald Trump pointed to the example of the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants and who is the first Muslim in the position. A political “disaster”, in the opinion of the President of the United States, who blames immigration for the election: “He was elected because too many people got in. They voted for him now”.
“If we look at London, we have a mayor called [Sadiq] Khan. He’s a terrible mayor. An incompetent mayor, but also horrible, perverse and disgusting”, he added.
An effect, that of immigration, that Donald Trump also sees in Scandinavia. “Sweden was known as the safest country in Europe, one of the safest in the world. Now it is known as highly insecure – well, a very insecure country. I can’t even believe it”, he continued, then pointing out “two big mistakes” to Germany, with Angela Merkel allowing the opening of borders for the entry of refugees and the reduction of its energy independence.
And not even the warnings from the president of the European Council calmed the president of the United States. António Costa warned, following the National Security Strategy, that the White House must respect European sovereignty and its right to govern itself as it sees fit.
“Allies do not threaten to interfere in the democratic life or internal political choices of their allies”, stated António Costa, who called for respect for Europe and, specifically, for the European Union.
Confronted by POLITICO with these words, Donald Trump didn’t even blink. Not only does he feel entitled to comment on the European political direction, he admits to supporting certain candidates in future elections, even if this calls into question certain sensibilities.
“I will support [candidatos]. I will support people, but I have supported people that many Europeans don’t like. I supported Viktor Orbán”, he recalled, admitting that he likes the border policies of the Prime Minister of Hungary, perhaps the biggest pariah in the current composition of the European Union.
In addition to Viktor Orbán, Donald Trump also has good things to say about the president of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is, imagine, a “cute cake”. “When someone has a problem with Erdogan, they ask me to call him because they can’t talk to him. He’s a cute cake. I happen to like him a lot. I even think that he built a great country, a great army,” he said, also adding praise for Poland’s migration policy, which has been tougher in recent years.
Criticisms that extend, as already noted, to the issue of war. Donald Trump once again suggested that Volodymyr Zelensky should really accept what he has on the table, ironizing the current position of the president of Ukraine: “It would be good if he read[thepeaceplan”hesaidsayingthatmanyUkrainianslikewhatwaspreparedbytheUnitedStatesandthatittakesRussia’sinterestsmoreintoconsiderationthananythingelse[oplanodepaz”afirmoudizendoquemuitosucranianosgostamdoquefoielaboradopelosEstadosUnidosequetemmaisemconsideraçãoosinteressesdaRússiadoqueoutracoisa
But there is also room to criticize Europe, namely France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which have led the efforts to not leave Ukraine alone between two giants. “They talk, but they don’t produce, and the war continues and continues”, he reiterated, even leaving a new call for elections in Ukraine, in one of the clearest confirmations that he is not really going to fight with Volodymyr Zelensky.
“They haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about democracy, but we’ve reached a point where it’s not democracy anymore,” he concluded.
