Why MAGA world has turned against Europe: FT
4 Min Read
As MAGA influence grows, the Trump administration targets Europe’s institutions, criticizes democratic safeguards, and promotes nationalist allies across the continent.
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US President Donald Trump throws autographed hats to the crowd during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023 (AP)
A deepening ideological divide is straining the US–Europe alliance, as the Trump administration escalates its rhetorical and political attacks on European liberalism, democratic institutions, and governance models, The Financial Times reports.
The most recent flashpoint came in the form of a provocative US State Department essay, published on its official Substack, which accused Europe of waging an “aggressive campaign against western civilisation itself.”
Although the piece was penned by a relatively obscure aide, its official publication underscores what FT describes as the institutionalization of MAGA-aligned hostility toward the European Union.
The author, Sam Samson, a recent college graduate and advisor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accused European governments of undermining democracy from within. What some initially dismissed as fringe rhetoric has now taken root in MAGA-aligned policy circles. FT underscores that this ideological turn is no longer limited to campaign sloganeering but is actively shaping US foreign posture.
Constanze Stelzenmüller of the Brookings Institution warned that “language like this out in the public space changes the transatlantic relationship,” even if framed as base-driven messaging.
EU criticism feeds MAGA's anti-liberal worldview
The ideological clash is especially evident in responses to European crackdowns on far-right parties. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, set to meet Trump in Washington, faces Republican backlash over Berlin’s decision to classify the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as extremist. Both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary Rubio condemned the move, with Rubio calling it “tyranny in disguise.”
Rubio added, “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD… but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”
This anti-EU stance is not new. Trump has long alleged that the European Union was “designed to screw the United States.” According to Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations, Trump’s team has transformed that grievance into “a fully articulated worldview” that casts the EU as a liberal threat to American sovereignty.
MAGA’s ideological export to European soil
Trump’s worldview is no longer confined to rhetoric, it is being operationalized in European politics. JD Vance has accused Europe of being a “permanent security vassal of the United States,” while at the Munich Security Conference, he declared that Europe is “retreating from some of its most fundamental values.”
The rhetoric reflects a broader cultural war. Stephan Bierling, a professor at the University of Regensburg, noted that MAGA attacks on Europe’s democratic institutions serve dual purposes: energizing Trump’s base and presenting him as a "saviour" of democracy.
“Populists who take power and then try to impose authoritarian systems of government often stylise themselves as the real defenders of democracy,” Bierling explained.
MAGA activism extends beyond the EU
The antagonism isn’t limited to Brussels. The Trump administration has also criticized the UK and French judicial rulings against far-right figures. When British anti-abortion activist Livia Tossici-Bolt was convicted for violating clinic buffer zones, Samson met her personally, and the State Department issued a rebuke, calling her conviction a threat to “freedom of expression.”
In France, MAGA-aligned officials condemned the disqualification of Marine Le Pen over EU fund misuse. Trump officials compared her exclusion to the “corrupt lawfare” allegedly used against Trump in the US.
Even direct intervention has become part of this transatlantic political shift. In May, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem campaigned in Poland for nationalist candidate Karol Nawrocki, telling voters, “You will be that shining city on the hill.” Nawrocki went on to defeat liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.
Jeremy Shapiro sums up the strategy as twofold: “undermine the broader liberal EU agenda” while fostering “a new transatlantic relationship which is fundamentally illiberal.” For MAGA-world, this is no longer just about policy, it’s about redefining the ideological foundation of the Western alliance.
As the Financial Times highlights, the emerging fault line between Trump’s Washington and Brussels is no longer tactical, it’s existential.
Read more: The growing rift: Why US is recalibrating its ties with Europe
