Europe is waking up to a harsh reality: the Trump-Musk-Vance axis is not simply reshaping the United States—it’s exporting its ideological warfare across the Atlantic. From Munich to Berlin, London to Brussels, the message is clear: fall in line, or be left behind.
U.S. vice president J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference is not an isolated event. It is part of a broader ideological project that has been expanding across the Atlantic, driven by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the family of far-right actors and outfits. Their crusade, wrapped in the rhetoric of free speech, anti-globalism, and nationalistic revivalism, has methodically infiltrated political discourse in both the United States and Europe.
The coherence of their project is evident in Vance’s words as well as in Musk’s interventions in British and German politics, Trump’s policy posturing, and the wider Make America Great Again (MAGA) ecosystem’s coordinated messaging.
Musk, whose political interjections have grown increasingly emboldened, has made no secret of his disdain for the UK’s government led by the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer. His support for Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform Party and his role in stoking racial tensions during the riots last summer across Britain are but a fraction of a larger campaign.
More eye-catching, however, is his calculated engagement with German politics. In a move stunningly blind to historical sensitivity, he addressed the campaign launch of the the far-right extremist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Halle just before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. He urged Germans to “move beyond their Nazi guilt” and embrace their national identity—an unsubtle dog whistle advocating for ethnic homogeneity.
He has gone as far as calling German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier “an anti-democratic tyrant,” insulting Chancellor Olaf Scholz with a post on X, "Olaf ist ein Narr" ("Olaf is a fool") and amenably endorsing the AfD as the last hope for Germany.
To drive the message home, Musk has provided them with a global megaphone—platforming AfD leader Alice Weidel on X, agreeing that Adolf Hitler was a “socialist, communist guy,” and penning an op-ed in Welt arguing their case.
His efforts invigorate the overarching cultural war that connects anti-"remigration" rhetoric, the rebranding of ‘free speech’ as an unmoderated arena for disinformation, and the rollback of social progress on civil rights such as abortion and trans rights. He insisted multiculturalism is eroding German society.
This relentless mongering is part of a well-oiled machine and follows a clear structure.
The MAGA universe has succeeded with Trump’s re-election, and been exerting euphoric policy changes across the executive branch of the U.S. administration. Now, it finds itself confident enough to actively export its campaign to Europe, with Vance serving as a mouthpiece for this transatlantic ideological offensive.
Vance’s speech had a clear objective: to act like Uncle Sam, as it has done to other countries, underpin the message: Europe is a subordinate partner indebted to the United States, and Washington owes it nothing in return.
In this shifting vision, the continent that stood unwaveringly by Washington, through wars, military interventions around the world, and diplomatic crises, is now being discarded as an expendable partner.
Canada’s Justin Trudeau articulated this sense of betrayal, reminding, “From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan, we have fought and died together.”
The UK, Poland, Germany, and even non-NATO allies like Australia had all got behind Washington’s global military interventions, from Afghanistan to Iraq. But now, as Europe faces an existential security threat from Russia, the U.S. signals its retreat.
Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense, has made it explicit, “U.S. troops will not stay in Europe indefinitely.” . This is less a strategic recalibration than an ideological reckoning —one that suggests that, under Trump, alliances are transactional, loyalty is personal, and past sacrifices hold no currency.
There is also an element of retribution in Vance’s words. Many European leaders were dismissive of Trump’s 2024 campaign, quietly endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris. But for Trump, who places loyalty as a superior virtue, political allegiance is a zero-sum game, and his administration’s indifference to European security is, in part, payback for these perceived slights.
From an Eastern or Global South perspective, there is a greater irony at play. The EU, long a self-anointed custodian of international order and Washington’s co-lecturer in moral grandstanding, now finds itself on the receiving end of the kind of lectures it so often delivered.
Europe, a vocal advocate for liberal democracy and staunch in sanctioning Russia, has selectively applied these principles—condemning sovereignty violations in Ukraine while offering muted criticism of Israel’s military onslaught in Palestine. It is this shared hypocrisy that MAGA ideologues exploit, casting themselves as the true defenders of unvarnished ‘truth’ while dismissing Europe’s proclamations as self-serving posturing.
Vance’s words, boastful and jarring, signal, “there is a new sheriff in town.” The new U.S. administration is led by a real estate mogul accustomed to land grabs and high-stakes bargaining. His worldview is inherently expansionist and incompatible with the traditional transatlantic relationship Europe has long taken for granted, however hypocritical or selectively applied that partnership may have been to the rest of the world.
Now, this long-term ally has lectured European leaders to fall in line, and reaffirm their commitment to “shared values,” which clearly has misaligned meanings for both partners.
The much-celebrated transatlantic allies now stand at an uneasy crossroads. Vance’s speech was more than a policy statement; it was an indication of realignment, a declaration that the old order is collapsing. But this is not the first alarm, nor the first warning shot to Europe that the world it once knew no longer exists. It is a snooze alarm, ringing for a long time.
European leaders have long been aware of this shift. Some, like President Macron, have repeatedly called for greater European sovereignty, and have advocated for a security and foreign policy framework independent of Washington’s dictates. At the conference, President Zelensky reiterated this sentiment.
Understandably, there is a deep sense of suspicion, fear and loss of faith among Europe’s political establishment. But a reactionary response is not in Europe’s best interest.
A prudent course of action would be to look beyond the disruptive chaos engineered to destabilize democratic norms, focus on creating a unified European strategy to navigate these uncertainties, and invest in security, without sacrificing essential spending on education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social welfare, which, if neglected, could further polarise the electorate at home.