Promoting European Greatness: Why Europe’s Left Finds Trump’s Warning Unacceptable

One of my first assignments for PJ Media, back in 2007, was covering the American Freedom Alliance’s “The Collapse of Europe?” conference at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. Distinguished panelists such as Mark Steyn, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Daniel Pipes, and Philippe Karsenty discussed the troubling trajectory of the continent, particularly its rapid Islamization. Although I titled my article “Finding Comedy in the Collapse of Europe” because Steyn observed that laughter is the West’s trump card — since Ayatollah Khomeini once said, “there are no jokes in Islam” — the topic was very serious. As I wrote, “Not one of the distinguished panelists wanted to write off or dismiss Europe. Instead, they all hoped that the imperiled continent could be saved.”

You only criticize those you care about. That’s what I thought when I read the Trump Administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy, specifically its section on Europe. Rather than adopting an “I told you so” tone of chastisement, the report reads more like constructive criticism aimed at an ally the U.S. depends on for its own security. The administration focused on “making America great again” even titled the section on Europe “Promoting European Greatness.” The section itself lays out these concerns in detail:

Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years, or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies. Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.

When asked about the administration's warning to Europe about “civilizational erasure” and the fact that many European leaders are offended by the NSS, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the obvious: 

At the bedrock and at the cornerstone of our relationship with Europe is the fact that we do have a shared culture, a shared civilization, a shared experience, and shared values and principles on things like human rights, on freedom, on liberty, on democracy … on the rights of the individual.

What kind of person could be offended by such rhetoric? As an example, let me introduce the Socialist José Manuel Albares, Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain. When an equally Trump-hostile Al Jazeera host asked Albares if Trump is right that Europe is heading in the wrong direction, he answered: “Not at all. We are having the best decades in European history if you take into consideration peace, stability, freedom, pluralism, diversity."

Spain's Socialist leaders define all those values very differently from Trump. Let’s take "peace." After Spain refused to increase its military spending to 5% of GDP—only reaching 2.1%, the lowest of any NATO member—Trump suggested kicking the country out of NATO. There is only one thing that might induce Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who considers Israel a bigger threat than Hamas, to increase military resources: if he were allowed to use them against the Jewish state. As he once said: "Spain, as you know, has neither atomic bombs, nor aircraft carriers, nor huge oil reserves. We alone can't stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn't mean we won't stop trying."

As for the "pluralism" and "diversity," the AP reports:

With most European leaders talking tougher about immigration amid a rise in far-right populism and Trump administration warnings that they could face “civilizational erasure” unless they tighten their borders, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stands apart. The Iberian nation has taken in millions of people from Latin America and Africa in recent years, and the leftist Sánchez regularly extols the financial and social benefits that immigrants who legally come to Spain bring to the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

"Financial and social benefits"? Like the sky-high youth unemployment rate that is forcing young people abroad, and the rise in sexual assaults against women, which is driven by an out-of-control migrant crisis?

Of course, as in the U.S., when the left in Spain talks about "freedom," they are only concerned about what they view as the biggest threat to it: patriotic parties on the right. In the NSS, it says that the “growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.” Albares, like most of the media, of course, replaces “patriotic” with “extreme right-wing” when discussing these parties, including the populist-right Vox party in Spain. In the Al Jazeera interview, Albares says, “When it comes to extreme right-wing parties, they are a real threat to [the] European Union. …Extreme right-wing parties, even if they call themselves patriotic, they go against the interests of our citizens. To be a real patriot today in any European country is also to be in favor of [the] European Union. To be also a European patriot.”

Fortunately, there are promising signs that Spanish citizens are not buying the Socialists’ argument about what’s in their best interest. In Sunday’s regional election in Extremadura, long a Socialist stronghold, Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) suffered its worst regional result ever, losing ten of its 28 seats. Meanwhile, Vox doubled its support, winning 16.9% of the vote and increasing its seat count from five to 11.

The Hungarian Conservative reported on Vox leader Santiago Abascal's speech after the election:

Abascal attributed Vox’s advance to its focus on "the real problems of citizens," citing what he described as the abandonment of Extremadura, the impact of EU-backed green policies, public insecurity, illegal immigration, youth emigration and high taxation. "Vox’s votes must count. Vox voters must count," he said, warning that his party would demand political respect and influence commensurate with its electoral strength. He concluded with a stark message: "Vox is the future of Extremadura and Vox is the future of Spain."

It's no surprise that Trump is a big fan of Abascal, whom he praised at CPAC for doing an excellent job:

While most of the media labels patriotic parties as “extreme right-wing,” at PJ Media, you can count on reading the truth. Support and follow PJ Media’s honest journalism this holiday season with our special Christmas sale. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code MERRY74 to get 74% off your membership.