It’s a sad thing to say on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks, but Trump has pretty much killed the safety net of international alliances that came out of World War II.

Last week the White House released its official National Security Strategy.  Some have boiled this down to Make Europe White Again.

Anton Troianovski writes in the New York Times,

The world as seen from the White House is a place where America can use its vast powers to make money.

President Trump has shown all year that his second term would make it a priority to squeeze less powerful countries to benefit American companies. But late Thursday, his administration made that profit-driven approach a core element of its official foreign policy, publishing its long-anticipated update to U.S. national security aims around the world.

The document, known as the National Security Strategy, describes a world in which American interests are far narrower than how prior administrations — even in Mr. Trump’s first term — had portrayed them. Gone is the long-familiar picture of the United States as a global force for freedom, replaced by a country that is focused on reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians, instead seeing them as sources of cash.

The NSS promises to stop “hectoring” authoritarian countries to be more democratic. But apparently it’s okay to hector most of Europe. This is from the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

The NSS is blatantly derisive toward Europe.  … Far more concerning, however, is the NSS chastising Europe for cultural decline. This is particularly ironic, given the rest of the document’s profession that it will not criticize monarchs or interfere in other nations’ sovereign affairs. It also has a stark undertone of anti-migrant sentiment. For example, it complains about “the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure,” citing “activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.” This should give even President Trump’s most fervent supporters pause. Not only does it misread Europe’s current state, but it leans hard into far-right wing political parties’ talking points. It further suggests that part of the reason for strife with Russia is Europe’s lack of self-confidence, which will come as music to Putin’s ears and nails on a chalkboard for Brussels. The NSS says, “as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat.” That’s because it is an existential threat, Mr. President. Look no further than Russia’s increasingly aggressive strategy of hybrid warfare across the continent.

See also Trump Has Long Disdained Europe’s Elites. Now, It’s Official. by Jason Horowitz at the New York Times.

The Trump administration issued a national security strategy paper this week that called for European nations to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense, indicating that the United States should no longer guarantee Europe’s security. It accused the European Union of stifling “political liberty,” warned that some NATO members risked becoming “majority non-European,” and said the U.S. should align with “patriotic European parties” — code for Europe’s far-right movements.

The blunt, bracing and official nature of the document added injury to incessant insult, making clear to mainstream European leaders that they stand at a strategic crossroads. On a paper stamped with the president’s seal, the trans-Atlantic alliance was being openly denigrated by the superpower across the ocean that has ensured European security in the 80 years since World War II.

On the other hand, New US security strategy aligns with Russia’s vision, Moscow says, according to the BBC. Among other things, the NSS blames the EU for blocking its efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Not Putin for starting the bleeping war and insisting on being rewarded for it.

At The Atlantic, Eliot A. Cohen writes that Trump’s Security Strategy Is Incoherent Babble. See also Unpacking a Trump Twist of the National Security Strategy at the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR has concerns.

None of this is a surprise, of course. Money is the only measure of value to Trump, and he doesn’t give a hoo-haw about alliances.  I understand there have been noises coming out of the White House recently about ending support for Ukraine. Like Trump ever really supported Ukraine. It’s been obvious all along Putin’s aggression is just fine with Trump. He just wants to know how to make money out of it.

In other news, recently Trump pardoned Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who with his wife had been charged with accepting bribes from foreign governments. I thought this was odd at the time, since Cuellar is a Democrat. But apparently Trump thought he had a deal that Cuellar would switch parties. Politico:

President Donald Trump rebuked Rep. Henry Cuellar on Sunday for a “lack of loyalty,” just days after pardoning the Texas Democrat.

Cuellar, who along with his wife was charged in 2024 with accepting $600,000 in bribes from foreign entities, filed to run for reelection as a Democrat in his battleground South Texas district on Wednesday — the same day he received a pardon from Trump — quelling speculation that the moderate lawmaker intended to switch parties.

“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again, in the Great State of Texas … as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison – And probably still do!” Trump wrote in a Sunday morning post to his Truth Social platform.

The Texas Tribune:

Cuellar’s legal controversy began in 2022, during the Biden administration, when the FBI raided his home and office as part of a federal probe investigating the diplomatic practices of Azerbaijan. Cuellar and his wife were indicted by the Department of Justice in 2024 on 12 counts of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering centering the congressman’s alleged acceptance of nearly $600,000 in bribes from the Central Asian country and a Mexican commercial bank. The indictment alleged that the money was laundered through shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, and that the congressman subsequently pushed policy benefitting Azerbaijani interests. …

…The case had already ensnared two of Cuellar’s political advisers, who pled guilty to conspiring with Cuellar to launder over $200,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank.

I sincerely hope some Democrat is going to primary Cuellar.