How Are Europeans Looking at the US?

A MAGA fan boasted on X this week that “other nations respect the US because Donald Trump is strong and America is powerful again”.

I just spent four weeks in Europe, and I heard a very different story. In a series of informal conversations, French and Italians were baffled by our politics and profoundly worried about the future of the United States. How, they wondered, could America elect a thug like Trump a second time? Why weren’t the Democrats doing more to stop him from trying to destroy our democracy?

And, sadly, a South American couple said they were now scared to visit New York, even though they love the city.

We’re not the only game in town. Throughout my trip, I saw many Chinese tourists. They were a major presence, far more numerous than Americans, and they had plenty of money to spend. Most signs at tourist sites are still in English, French and Spanish, but Chinese signs are starting to pop up, too. If the US leaves a vacuum in Europe, the Chinese will fill it.

Fear and Loathing in France

I spent some time with old friends in and around Paris. They speak English fluently and know the US well; some have lived and worked here. They are successful professionals.

I did not raise the issue of politics; they did. They are obviously worried that Trump will abandon Europe to the tender mercies of Vladimir Putin, but their concerns go beyond that. The French have always regarded the American Revolution as the first great catalyst in the development of democracy and civil rights. (The second great catalyst, of course, is the French Revolution.) Despite frequent differences over policies, such as the Iraq War, the French have generally regarded the United States as a beacon of hope and human progress. Now, they worry about the US becoming a force for evil.

They certainly do not respect Trump or his administration. They are stunned that Trump can take a wrecking ball to our democratic institutions…and that he seems to be getting away with it easily. They do not respect Trump; they loathe him, and to some extent, they are scared. If Trump turns America into a dictatorship, what will that mean for Europe and the rest of the world?

Like many Americans, they wonder why the Democrats are not mounting a more effective resistance. To be fair, our conversations took place before Democratic candidates won several off-year elections by healthy margins.

The French have their own problems, of course. President Emmanuel Macron is a very lame duck. He is deeply unpopular, and his party has lost its majority in Parliament. The hard-right, ferociously anti-immigrant party of Marine Le Pen holds the largest number of seats in Parliament, followed by a coalition of ultra-left parties and then Macron’s center-right party. The government is all but paralyzed, since the three parties won’t cooperate or compromise.

Respected…or isolated? /photo: Getty Images

France: No Kings

The contrast between the US and France is particularly striking because Nicolas Sarkozy, a former President, was recently convicted of criminal violations and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released after three weeks, as he pursues an appeal.

Sarkozy’s offense? Taking illegal campaign contributions from a foreign government (Libya)…in an amount that seems like chump change, compared to the many millions of dollars of dubious donations that Trump is raking in.

There are some questions about the strength of the government’s case against Sarkozy, but the main point is that the French judicial system held a former president accountable for breaking the law. The French do not confer immunity on former presidents; they are not interested in being ruled by a king again.

The French also cannot conceive of a leader stripping health care from 10 to 16 million people. France has provided universal health care for decades. And this is, after all, a country where a fierce debate has been raging over whether people should retire at age 62 or 64.

A More Positive View of Trump

Not everyone I talked to despised Trump. In a northern Italian city, one gentleman remarked, “You might not like Trump’s methods, but maybe he is changing some things that needed to be changed”.

I hope that he was referring to Trump’s campaign to force European nations to spend more on their own defense. Most of our NATO allies have relied too much on the US for protection, and they were too stingy with their military budgets. Nonetheless, Trump’s NATO-bashing and his refusal to help Ukraine have undoubtedly encouraged Putin to pursue his dream of restoring Russian domination over Eastern Europe.

Bewildered Sicilians

I spent almost two weeks in Sicily, which used to be the Mafia’s fiefdom. Criminals are still around, of course, but they have lost much of their power. They overreached in the early 1990s, killing a crusading judge, a priest (a real no-no in Italy) and 25 other people in just two years. The public turned against the Mafia and informed on criminals to the police. The central government waged a relentless campaign against them and put many in jail.

Sicily’s tourist economy is booming, in part because it is now easier to do business, without the heavy hand of the Mafia. (Cheap airfares and a fine climate are key factors, too.) The island’s hospitality industry now attracts workers from Argentina and Eastern Europe. Much of Sicily is still poor, compared to Italy’s industrial north, but the situation has improved.

In Ortigia, a lovely, historic part of Syracuse, I spoke with a restaurant owner and two servers. They asked the same questions as the French, but they seemed even more bewildered by the turn of events in America. When one server asked, “How can Trump get away with this?” I replied, “He uses the government to help himself and his friends, and he punishes his enemies”. “Oh”, she said, ruefully, “it’s just like Italy”.

They still seemed mystified by the turn of events in the US, so I decided to use some local analogies. “Trump wants to be like Mussolini; he wants to have absolute power”, I said, and added, “Trump acts like a Mafioso”. They nodded their heads. They were stunned by my remarks, but they did not disagree…or express any admiration for our would-be Duce.

The Saddest Conversation

In a B&B in Agrigento, Sicily, I talked with an impressive couple from a South American country. Both have had distinguished careers, and they have frequently visited the US, especially New York.

As we discussed Trump’s moves to prosecute his political enemies, the woman said, “it’s just like when we were under a military dictatorship”. That statement gave me pause. Her country suffered for decades under a particularly brutal regime.

Then her husband made the saddest comment of all: “I love New York, but I’m not going back. I’m worried for my safety”. I asked if he was worried about crime in the city. “No”, he said, “I’m worried because I’m Hispanic”.

These were upper-class Latin Americans. Both had fair complexions, and she was blonde. They would not stand out on a New York City street in New York as targets for ICE. However, they spoke English with heavy accents (we talked mostly in Spanish), so they were afraid that ICE would sweep them up and arrest them. No respect there, just fear. Bye-bye, Statute of Liberty.

Chinese With Money to Burn

Wherever I went…Paris, northern Italy, Sicily, Rome…there were many, many Chinese tourists. In Paris, gorgeous, exquisitely dressed young Chinese women posed for pictures in front of the Louvre and other famous places. They were enhancing their portfolios on TikTok and dating websites, no doubt.

One night my wife and I were strolling around the quaint Sicilian town of Ragusa, exploring the culinary options.We stopped to look at a stylish restaurant and noted that its only offering was a tasting menu for 150 Euros ($170). We decided to try a local trattoria instead.

As we walked down the street, a large group of Chinese tourists, 30 to 40 people, passed us and lined up to enter the restaurant.These were not fancy people. In fact, they were rather plainly dressed.

But those tourists were not fazed by the price tag. Now that would earn the Sicilians’ respect.

The Wall Street Democrat