Justice, anywhere, is a threat to injustice anywhere.

Late last year, the Necrotic Toddler Administration released its National Security Strategy. It is … not good.

Paul Krugman: “Quite simply, Trump and those around him hate Europe. And they hate it because it still honors the ideals they’re abandoning in America.”

Anne Applebaum: “The authors do focus on one enemy ideology. It is not Chinese communism, Russian autocracy, or Islamic extremism but rather European liberal democracy. This is what this radical faction really fears: people who talk about transparency, accountability, civil rights, and the rule of law.”

Henry Farrell: “This is, quite straightforwardly, a program for regime change in Europe, aimed at turning it into an illiberal polity. Accomplishing this transformation would involve undermining existing liberal governments in cahoots with Europe’s own far right, and turning Eastern Europe into an ideological wedge against its Western neighbors.”

In a sense this is the global equivalent of what Vaclav Havel once described as ideological dictatorships’ attitude to dissent. It doesn’t matter that Europe isn’t going to invade us and make the Felon administration take back its anti-DEI, anti-immigrant bullshit. What matters is that right-wingers have embraced White Men Should Rule and America For Americans as fundamental truths; only they understand that black people are unfit to be anything but subordinates, women are unfit to do anything but raise kids, LGBTQ are unfit period. And these are fundamental principles without which humanity can’t survive. If European nations ignore this wisdom and survive or even thrive … well, by implication their success is screaming “Liar, liar!” at Republicans. They no more tolerate that than the slaveholders of antebellum America tolerated abolitionist writings.

Another factor, from the Krugman post, is the tech bros: “the broligarchs hate Europe because the Europeans are trying to impose sensible limits to protect their societies from the well-documented psychological and economic harms that are inflicted by an unrestrained Silicon Valley agenda. For example, the EU is trying to limit the proliferation of digital hate speech as well as the pernicious effects of social media on the young. And more so than the US, it has sought to constrain the monopoly power of the tech titans like Google and Facebook. We should remember that the moderate antitrust and AI regulations adopted by the Biden Administration prompted the tech broligarchy to swing hard behind Trump in the 2024 election.” Peter Thiel has declared he no longer believes democracy is compatible with freedom; he’s talking about his freedom to make unlimited money, not our freedom.

Trump cabinet member Doug Burgum has declared Europe will be safer with the United States owning Greenland but it’s hard to see how our hostile attitude translates into safety (but of course, Burgum’s lying). The Toddler’s approach to the rest of the world is the same as to our country — dominate them or punish if they resist.

If we successfully put an end to this insanity — to the point Europe doesn’t have to worry every time another Republican enters the White House — maybe we can regain our standing in the world. Until then, I think the Republicans have killed the era of American pre-eminence.