Europe's Plan for Dealing with Trump Backfired. Now What?
Simon Whistler · January 20, 2026 · 17 min video · Europe & NATO
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From the transcript
Political agreement? Not exactly very common today, so when it does emerge, it 's worth paying attention. And right now, Europeans across the political spectrum seem to agree on one thing.
The continent is in a wee bit of trouble. And just to be clear for people who don't understand sarcasm, it seems serious trouble. For the better part of 75 years, one assumption underwrote just about everything on collective continental security.
Whatever else happened, America would be there. That certainly shaped everything downstream of defense policy, how Europe organized itself, what it prioritized, and what it allowed itself to neglect. That assumption survived the Cold War, the War on Terror, the countless political fast storms, including the entirety of Trump's first term.
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
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About this briefing
Europe bet on flattery to manage Trump—and lost. This video explores how the strategy backfired, the Greenland crisis, NATO’s fracture, and why Europe now faces its most dangerous reckoning in decades.
