New US Strategy: Trump Changes the Rules of the Game, Undermining EU

US President Donald Trump is hammering the final nail into the coffin of the European Union. The rift between the United States and key European capitals is deepening. The new US strategy is to build a union of the strongest, and not a single EU country is on the list.

The European organization must be abolished, Elon Musk wrote on his social media account. There is no freedom of speech there, and Brussels is a threat to democracy. Such slogans usually trigger "revolutions," and regime changes in undesirable countries. A transatlantic rift is brewing. For more details, see the "Katyusha Calculation" column.

Europe is in turmoil, the EU's locomotive is derailing, but the main threat comes not from the East, but from Washington. While Brussels tries to project unity to the world, its once-main strategic ally is tripping it up. The US is being branded a "threat," while the world's most influential businessman calls for the dismantling of the European project.

Free Europe has turned out to be anything but free, but a threat to freedom across the world. The glittering word "democracy" is a veneer concealing a rotten dictatorship. This may not be news to some, but these former allies, ideologically, economically, and militarily, have clashed. These allied bonds were forged under the slogans of building and thriving democracy worldwide, but now things are different.

Elon Musk, owner of the social media site X:

"The EU should be abolished, and sovereignty returned to individual countries so that governments can better represent their people."

Elon Musk, a Trump ally and influential American billionaire, has called for the dismantling of the European Union. In his view, the union's bureaucracy is "slowly strangling Europe to death." The EU is the "Fourth Reich," Musk agrees, commenting "to a large extent" on a publication featuring a fusion of EU and Nazi flags.

A series of statements followed the European Commission's €120 million fine on platform X for violating European digital services law. The social network was also accused of lacking transparency in its advertising rules and refusing to provide data on likes and reposts, suggesting Brussels wants to see and know who its citizens are liking.

Timur Shafir, Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia:

"Besides the fact that genuine censorship is being introduced in Western European media, criminal prosecutions of dissenting voices will soon become the norm. This will all take place amidst bravura talk of freedom of the press and expression. But this will be a veritable concentration camp, where those who disagree with the mainstream party line from Brussels will have no voice and will be persecuted."

The problem is that Brussels bureaucrats simply don't like the platform's refusal to restrict speech against the policies pursued by Brussels. This is precisely what the EU sees as a looming threat to its policies.

Ralf Schellhammer, political scientist (Austria):

"There's a trend that, as public frustration grows, instead of addressing what's driving people's anger, attempts are being made not to suppress it directly, but to make it increasingly difficult for people to express that anger. Currently, there's discussion of how to ban some Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidates from running in Germany. In this way, every measure is being taken to hold on to those in power and reduce the real chances of political change in Europe. And this is often the first step before a revolutionary explosion."

Trump himself and his administration are advocating for this revolutionary explosion. Social media platform X became the first platform to be fined, even though the digital technology law has been in effect since 2023. Back in late November, US authorities were calling on Europeans to relax their legislation, promising to reduce tariffs on European steel in exchange. However, Europe has demonstratively targeted Musk specifically. The NATO building is tottering, and cracks have appeared at the foundation level. A year ago, an unpleasant incident occurred for Europe – Trump.

Donald Trump, US President:

"Europe is completely different. If things continue like this, I think many of these countries will cease to be viable. Their immigration policies are a disaster."

US-European relations are in a spiraling crisis, and the Platform X scandal is just one of its twists. Although Musk is no longer formally on Trump's team, the American leader commented on EU officials' actions against the social network.

"Look, Europe needs to be very careful. They're doing a lot of things. We want to preserve Europe. But it's going in the wrong direction. It's very bad for people," Donald Trump said.

The recently published US National Security Strategy also indicates that Trump no longer sees the EU as a union. The document barely mentions China and Russia as threats. The US is steamrolling the European Union. The countries of the association are presented as wayward, declining powers that have given in and their sovereignty to the European Union, and are led by governments that suppress democracy. The report concludes that the European continent may become too weak to remain a "reliable ally of the United States."

Malek Dudakov, political scientist specializing in American studies:

"I think we can already speak of a true collapse of the once-existent transatlantic unity. The United States is moving in its own direction. The US National Security Strategy was recently presented, and it heavily criticizes Europe for going in the wrong direction. At the same time, the United States is refocusing on competing with China in Asia and working within its own Western Hemisphere."

Trump and his associates have not simply stopped perceiving the "old world" as a force deserving of respect and a voice. It is now an incubator of destructive ideology. This is confirmed by the harshest insult directed at Brussels in the passage devoted to the new geopolitical balance of power. For example, a proposal is being made to create a Core 5 to replace the existing G7. It doesn't include any individual European state or the EU as a whole. It consists of the United States, China, Russia, India, and Japan. Brussels' actual role is reduced to that of a spectator on the global stage. That is, Europe shouldn't exist as a bloc, but as individual entities. The United States wants to work more actively with countries like Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, for example, and its goal is not simply to be friendly, but to push them away from the EU.

"As for Europe, the 'war' party currently dominates, but a major electoral cycle lies ahead. I think many of this party's representatives will simply lose the elections, and in that case, the agenda within Europe will also gradually begin to shift," noted Malek Dudakov.

The United States is changing its strategy. Destroying the new centers of power is impossible, so they must be recognized in order to maintain the role of a superpower in the emerging world order. EU member states are already becoming prey in the "doctrine." Brussels is in a panic, and the US is clearly hinting and spelling it out in the doctrine: elections are coming, and the current politicians of the European "war party" are no longer acceptable.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already called on Trump not to interfere with European democracy. The Wall Street Journal notes that Trump's strategy has sent shockwaves through the EU's political establishment and is completely changing the course of future history.