MARSEILLES, France (CN) — Gati Gleo, a 75-year-old retiree, was blunt in his assessment about the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
“The U.S. is going to shit, that’s how it is,” he said as he hung out Wednesday morning inside a neighborhood butcher shop in this French port city, chatting with the friendly butcher. “It’s a mess,” he said. “He’s a huge bastard.”
With those few words, Gleo seemed to sum up the feelings of many Europeans when it comes to Trump and the right-wing, nationalistic and protectionist direction the United States is taking.
Polls show an overwhelming majority of Europeans would not vote for Trump given the chance, though that’s not the case in many former communist countries such as Serbia, Hungary and Russia where conservative authoritarianism has taken root.
Trump’s victory was both stunning and shocking for many Americans and Europeans alike.
And it spells big trouble for Europe, which was already battered by the war in Ukraine, economic stagnation and the rise of the far right. Trump’s return to power in Washington marks a new crisis because his “America First” agenda is anything but friendly to European interests and it dangerously exposes Europe’s biggest weakness — a vassal-like dependence on American military, political, cultural and economic might.
Even as European leaders quickly congratulated Trump on his victory Wednesday morning, unease, disgust and panic spread across much of the continent as the prospect of four more years of Trump dawned.
It’s such a disruptive moment because Trump may upend the NATO alliance and its pro-Ukraine stance; give sustenance to Europe’s far-right leaders, such as Marine Le Pen in France; once again drop out of the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change and quash the push for renewable energy; and eagerly open up trade disputes with Europe.
European leaders, though, were careful to play nice with Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron kicked off the paeans with a message on X saying he was “ready to work together” once again with Trump.
“With your convictions and with mine,” Macron said. “With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Similar messages about “working together” were sent by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
But behind the seemingly felicitous messages, Trump’s stunning landslide victory cast a dark cloud over Europe and upended European strategies across a broad spectrum.
In his first presidency, Trump rocked the Transatlantic alliance as he openly questioned his commitment to NATO, tore up a European-brokered nuclear treaty with Iran, dropped out of arms control treaties with Russia, called for tariffs against European “freeloaders” and cozied up with far-right and authoritarian leaders in Europe and around the world.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.