America’s political system is broken. Thus say people from countries that have spawned far-right movements, brought hardline parties into government, held repeated inconclusive elections, confronted secessionist pressures, broken off the European Union, repeatedly empowered establishment coalitions, suffered economic collapse, demanded continental financial bailouts, dismantled democratic processes, tolerated extensive corruption, failed to contribute seriously to defense, and whined about the threat posed by Moscow. These people are complaining because Americans elected Donald Trump? Seriously?
The Europeans’ shameless hypocrisy, irresponsibility, disloyalty, ungratefulness, and sanctimony are some of the reasons so many Republicans voted for Trump.
Alas, the poll gives reason after reason why Americans should resist President Joe Biden’s naïve Europhilia. Almost half of Europeans polled believe the world is a worse place after Trump’s presidency. More than a quarter don’t believe Americans can be trusted after Trump’s election. That number runs more than half in Germany and more than a third in Denmark, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
Over half of Europeans believe the U.S. political system is broken. The British take the lead, hitting 81 percent. The Germans, Danes, Dutch, and Swedes follow at 71 percent, 71 percent, 68 percent, and 67 percent, respectively. Only the Poles and Hungarians fall under a third.
When asked to join America in confronting China, most Europeans are not interested. Why not? Well, who wants to go with a loser? An amazing 59 percent believe that within a decade China will be the stronger power. These true believers hit 79 percent in Spain, 72 percent in Portugal, 72 percent in Italy, 62 percent in France, and 58 percent in the UK. Germany comes in at “only” 56 percent. Poland, Denmark, and Hungary run just under half, at 49 percent, 48 percent, and 48 percent.
These numbers highlight how few real friends America has in Europe. As ECFR noted, “Whereas, at the beginning of the century, European public opinion on the U.S. used to be divided along the lines of Donald Rumsfeld’s ‘old’ and ‘new’ Europe, the current poll shows a great deal of convergence. Many differences between European societies remain, but the clear dividing lines have been blurred.”
The survey posited an “In America We Trust” tribe, which ranged between 3 percent (Denmark and UK) and 22 percent (Italy). Germany was at 4 percent; France and Poland hit 12 percent. Far stronger was the “In Europe We Trust” grouping. At the top were Denmark (60 percent), Germany (53 percent), Sweden (51 percent), and the Netherlands (50 percent). At the bottom were Poland (14 percent), Hungary (18 percent), and Italy (18 percent). The latter were more inclined to trust “the West,” which obviously includes the U.S., than just Europe.
Distrust in America is not all bad. The Council reported,