In the eight decades since World War II, the United States has sought to lead a global order by promoting international rules and ensuring the security of democracies in Europe and East Asia as well as oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies.
Still, there was little precedent for the dramatic, on-camera rupture Friday in the Oval Office in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has relied on Western support to withstand a three-year Russian invasion.
Trump had days earlier declared that he was making a “decisive break” with past US foreign policy, which he described as “foolish” and responsible for “the deaths of many, many people.”
'Profound shift' on democracy
He mocked Zelensky as a “dictator” for not holding elections since the invasion, while praising Vladimir Putin, who has been president or prime minister of Russia for 25 years.
While Washington’s championing of democracy has “rightly been accused of hypocrisy, now there’s not even any pretense that the United States is upholding those values,“ said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Bergmann said that Trump was also providing a “real opening” to rival China.
“Well, here’s the United States essentially doing the ultimate betrayal, or completely switching sides, and stopping to support a democracy at war.”
European leaders immediately spoke of ramping up defense without the United States. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a “new age of infamy has begun” after the “unspeakable” scene in the White House.
Trump said Monday that a Chinese invasion would be a “catastrophic event” as Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC announced $100 billion of investment in the United States.
But she said the economic stakes also made the situations different and pointed to Taiwan's influence as the world's foremost chipmaker and a major investor.
Joshua Rovner, a political scientist at American University, said Trump sees uncertainty as part of his strategy and in his first term, despite criticizing Europe, actually raised US troop levels on the continent.
“What really matters is what he ultimately does with US forces.”
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