WASHINGTON — President Trump described Europe as “decaying” and run by “weak” leaders in a harsh takedown of many of America’s top allies in a newly published interview.
“I think they’re weak,” Trump told Politico’s Dasha Burns on Monday on the latest episode of “The Conversation” podcast. “But I also think that they want to be so politically correct.”
“I think they don’t know what to do,” he added. “Europe doesn’t know what to do.”
Trump’s comments came days after his administration’s latest national security strategy warned that Europe was heading toward “civilizational erasure” due to “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.”
That declaration sent shivers down the spines of many European leaders, some of whom, such as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, tried to impress upon the American public that “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem.”
Host Burns pressed Trump for his response to European leaders who “are a little freaked out” by the administration’s rhetoric.
“They should be freaked out by what they’re doing to their countries. They’re destroying their countries,” the president shot back, adding that “they’re people I like.”
“I get along with ’em. You, you know that. But they can’t let this happen, and it gets to a point where you can’t really correct it. There’ll be a point, and it’s very close to that point … that they’re no longer going to be strong nations.”
Since Trump roared back into the White House in January, many European leaders have sought to woo him with various forms of flattery and have acquiesced to him on trade policy to curry favor.
In August, following Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, six European leaders and “Trump whisperer” NATO boss Mark Rutte trekked to Washington to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky navigate his meeting with the American president.
The dramatic display was seemingly intended to provide Zelensky with critical backup months after his explosive Feb. 28 Oval Office encounter with Trump.
On Monday, leaders from Germany, France and the United Kingdom huddled with Zelensky in London to discuss ongoing negotiations to end the brutal war that has raged for nearly four years, as Trump’s team has frequently produced proposals that the Europeans fear are too friendly to the Kremlin.
While Trump largely refrained from singling out specific European countries for criticism, he made sure to laud Hungary and Poland for their tighter immigration policies.
“I just think he’s doing a very good job in a different sense on immigration,” Trump said of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán. “His country’s landlocked.”
“One thing he’s really gotten right is the immigration because he … he allows nobody in his country,” he continued. “But most European nations, they’re decaying.”
“They’re decaying.”
One leader Trump called out by name was London’s left-wing mayor, Sadiq Khan.
“He gets elected because so many people have come in. They vote for him now,” vented Trump, calling Khan a “disaster.”
“But I hate what’s happened to London, and I hate what’s happened to Paris. I hate when I see it.”
