JD Vance’s speech in Munich, universally condemned by those accustomed to the bureaucratic doublespeak of the Biden administration, is ultimately just the latest blow dealt by the Trump whirlwind to the globalist certainties that Brussels so clearly embodies today. In recent weeks, the EU has plunged into a state of panic, as the new president—by simply keeping his promises—has in a matter of weeks constructed a countermodel that upends decades of supposedly immutable certainties. Vance’s speech was merely a realistic portrayal of this shift, while an out-of-touch establishment had been expecting the usual abstract and convoluted rhetoric of grand conferences.
Unfortunately, this wave of panic is well-founded, as since January 20, the EU has been laid bare—rendered obsolete in a matter of days and left utterly stunned. What a paradox: what America has overwhelmingly embraced is precisely what Brussels, with smug self-assurance, keeps sealed behind an implacable “cordon sanitaire.” On his first day in office, Trump declared that his administration would recognize only two sexes—male and female—and would eradicate DEI policies, while the EU remains mired in the dogmatic woke-ism imposed from Brussels in the name of “European values.” At a time of “drill, baby, drill,” Europe remains pathetically wedded to a suicidal and outdated Green Deal—a hollow virtue signal that no one beyond its borders takes seriously. The much-touted “shock of simplification” announced by von der Leyen in her grandiose “competitiveness compass” is nothing more than a handful of token measures, destined to be watered down by a detached European Parliament after years of legislative wrangling. Too little, and far too late—especially when it comes to cutting bureaucracy and having a serious conversation about competitiveness.
While Trump and Musk are “doge-ifying” the state apparatus, the EU stands as the ultimate bureaucratic behemoth of the Western world—a dystopia of procedures and regulations that it has even managed to impose on European businesses, now suffocating under the weight of endless constraints. ESG criteria, the EU taxonomy, data protection laws, AI regulation, the due diligence directive, CSR requirements—while America unleashes the full force of its economy, the EU is tightening the reins more than ever. And then there’s the Digital Services Act, Thierry Breton’s liberticidal dream—a digital muzzle embraced by Europe, yet casually dismissed by this new America as a red line not to be crossed. All in all, an orgy of centralised bureaucracy—a machine designed to crush dynamism and creativity—facing off against a whirlwind of bureaucratic and ideological simplification.
Trump’s return marks the end of an era for the US, where a politicised technocratic caste had forgotten that civil servants are meant to serve, not rule. The USAID scandal remains the most shocking example of a deep state that saw itself as untouchable, squandering public funds on ideological whims. Worse still, it brazenly interfered in the internal affairs of numerous states under the banner of democracy, colluding with activists masquerading as civil society. As noted by Zoltán Kovács in About Hungary on February 18th, “Among the biggest beneficiaries of this [USAID] transformation were George Soros and his vast network of Open Society-linked organizations. USAID poured millions into civil society groups that aligned with Soros-backed initiatives, propping up NGOs that pushed progressive activism under the guise of democracy-building.” Yet, in Europe, this behaviour is nothing out of the ordinary. As a recent report, The EU’s Propaganda Machine, authored by MCC Brussels’ Thomas Fazi, and the Timmermans scandal reveal, hundreds of millions in EU funds are freely channelled into purely ideological pursuits—often absurd projects that sustain a clientelist network of lobbying groups—without causing any outrage. Until now?
Not to mention migration policy, a central theme of Vance’s speech in Munich, where his sharp analysis delivered a scathing critique of Europe’s baffling inertia in the face of an existential threat. While America makes a U-turn, the EU is preparing to implement a Migration Pact that is already obsolete, trapped in a labyrinth of laws and judges who punish the few European leaders—such as Matteo Salvini—who still have the courage to do what the overwhelming majority of voters relentlessly demand.
Trump’s election marks a historic turning point—a new paradigm that shatters the prevailing dogmas of the Western world. Two visions now stand in direct opposition: on one side, a globalist, technocratic, centralist, and interventionist model driven by progressive ideals and climate commitments; on the other, a counter-model rooted in national sovereignty, political primacy, economic liberalism, and a patriotic, conservative outlook. One embodied by Trump, the other now chiefly represented by the EU. These two antithetical projects will shape Europe’s political agenda in the coming years. Looming in the background is the question that haunts today’s establishment: what if the cordon sanitaire of today becomes the majority of tomorrow? The answer remains uncertain, but given how rapidly Europe has aged in just a few weeks, it may well be that this self-satisfied, yet outdated Europe has never lived up to its name as the old continent more than it does now. Old, and irrelevant.
Orbán in the European Parliament: just one adult in the room