Trump and Vance have put a stake in the heart of the free world.

“The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest … The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny,” – Ronald Reagan at Pointe du Hoc, France on June 6, 1984.

It is a fascinating moment, isn’t it, when Reagan’s vision of the West is finally swept into the dustbin of history by a Republican president.

And that is the only solid conclusion one can make after this week of astonishing incompetence and madness. We only saw Donald Trump’s foreign policy darkly in his first term — constrained, as he was, by a handful of white-knuckled Republicans in the executive branch. Now we see it face to face. It’s a vision where international law disappears, great powers divide up the planet into spheres of influence, and the strong always control the weak. It’s Trump’s vision of domestic politics as well. And of life.

Control, plunder, gloat. This is the Trump way.

And to give the madman his due, something had to happen. Neoconservatism is long since dead — by suicide, of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the global position of the US after 1945, and then after 1989, is over and never coming back. There is simply no threat in the world that is equivalent to the totalitarian regimes of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Maoist China. Islamism was never going to replace them.

And so a retrenchment of the US position was inevitable at some point: a more judicious approach to interventionism, a greater balance with the allies, a pivot toward Asia and away from Europe and the Middle East: responsible, realist re-positioning. In fact, failure to do so when our debt payments now exceed our military budget would be asking for trouble.

Obama tried: deleveraging us from the Middle East, avoiding traps like Syria, focusing more on China. His position on Ukraine was instructive in this realist recalibration: “[T]his is an example of where we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for.” What we are witnessing now — as Washington’s support for Ukraine crumbles — is what happens when US promises run way ahead of its core interests and US public opinion, and we get caught funding an unending, unwinnable, unspeakably bloody war.

On this much, Trump is right. The Ukraine conflict is at a stalemate; the human toll is vast, unimaginable, and mounting every day; there’s no chance of repelling Russia from its current occupation — but there is some chance of driving a hard bargain to ensure a stable, new border and an independent rump Ukraine, with security guarantees against any future invasions from Russia.

And so I’ve always been in support of a tough peace negotiation that would have to reflect the facts on the ground. I was prepared for concessions from the West in the end, alongside some guarantees against future aggression. Even if it was realistic to understand that victory was impossible, we could still find a way to protect Ukraine’s fledgling democracy and remaining territory, keep the democracies aligned against Putin, and maintain the broad structure of the post-war settlement, alongside international law.

But that is not, it now seems obvious, the Trump position at all. What he is doing is not about making a tough peace deal with Russia, recalibrating NATO, or protecting Ukraine’s democracy. He is merely setting the terms of a new alliance and relationship with the criminal Russian dictatorship — directed against the European democracies.

More TDS from yours truly? But what other conclusion can one draw when the president cuts the Ukrainians and their European allies out of the dealmaking, has already conceded Ukraine’s conquered territory before any talks, insists that Ukraine started the war, that Zelensky, and not Putin, is the dictator, and is demanding reparations in advance … from Ukraine, not Russia! The reparations amount to a US claim on 50 percent of Ukraine’s mineral deposits forever. It’s the equivalent of “We’re gonna take Iraq’s oil.” It’s a form of imperial pillage. But it’s vintage Trump.

And notice that this isn’t part of full negotiations with Russia. Trump wanted Zelensky to sign away half his country’s mineral rights to the US in perpetuity before he had asked anything of Putin. And he gave Zelensky three hours to read and sign it. Trump, of course, was incensed when Zelensky refused. This is how a Trump official described the mood: “We created a monster with Zelensky. And these Trump-deranged Europeans who won’t send troops are giving him terrible advice.”

Zelensky is a monster but Putin is our friend. As for concessions from Russia for its unprovoked violation of an internationally recognized border? None that I can see, apart from stopping the war. (If you want to read Vance’s underwhelming defense of what’s going on, check out his reply to Niall here.) Then the Russians get American sanctions lifted, re-entry to the G-7, vast new oil revenues, and a chance to take all of Ukraine next time.

At the same time, the vice president went to Europe to tell the democracies that they were suppressing free speech and needed to stop if they wanted to continue to be friends with Washington. Vance is right about Europe’s free-speech problem. But let’s just note this is not a condition Trump has ever placed on Putin in order to be friends.

In fact, Vance’s speech and Trump’s remarks make it clear that the US is no longer in alliance with Europe at all, but with Russia against Europe, and Europe’s liberal elites. The goal now is to replace those elites with Moscow-friendly governments, bent on repatriation of illegal migrants. Hence the stunning endorsement of the AfD by Elon Musk — the second most powerful man in the Trump administration.

After what the president and vice president have said this week, it’s fair to say, I think, that NATO is effectively over. No one can even faintly believe that the US under Trump would abide by Article 5 to defend another member state. Trump has just told the Baltic states: you’re on your own now. If you resist Russian control, you’ll deserve what you get.

It’s not just the end of NATO, but a new doctrine of US power. That doctrine now reflects Trump’s deepest conviction: that might is right, that weak countries should surrender to strong ones, and that this is in America’s interests, because we are the strongest. Trump’s aggression toward Canada, Panama, Gaza, and Denmark is not just trolling the libs. It’s of a piece with his view that the strong should always control and bully and plunder the weak. This is Ukraine’s real crime to Trump. They dared resist absorption by a bigger, stronger neighbor. That’s why Trump had contempt for the protestors at Tiananmen Square:

When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.

Or, as he said on another occasion: “If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time.”

The logic of this might-makes-right worldview is why Trump believes that the US should now own Gaza. By which authority? he was asked. “By US authority,” he answered — meaning, of course, not US authority (we have none in Israel) but US power. Trump is clinically incapable of understanding any system of mutuality, because he cannot tolerate being anyone’s equal.

The replacement of international law with spheres of influence based on power alone means, in turn, that the US will have no case against China’s future absorption of Taiwan, Russia’s re-occupation of all of Ukraine and the Baltic states, or Israel’s looming ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank. My own view is not that the US could have continued its current course indefinitely; but that any retrenchment should have kept the architecture of international law and support for liberal democracies, as much as we could. Trump has effectively thrown in the towel; and handed large swathes of the world to Putin, Xi, and, to a lesser extent, Netanyahu — the only world leaders he respects and understands.

This means, it seems to me, that the idea of the West is now over. By the West, I mean the idea that the democracies that beat the Nazis and outlasted the Soviets were and are instinctively America’s friends — “We were with you then; We are with you now,” in Reagan’s words — that the world is divided between autocracy and democracy, and that although we need to deal with tyrants realistically, and accept limits on our power in this new multipolar world, we are still emphatically the leader of “the free world.”

Those three words — “the free world” — mean nothing to Trump and never have. And he has now fatefully told the entire world, including our former allies, that this is America’s position now as well. He has updated Reagan with these words: “We were with you then. We see no reason to be with you now. In fact, we’re siding with a dictator who threatens you.”

This is a Rubicon, I’m afraid, that cannot be fully uncrossed. But I have a feeling that the American people, including many who voted for Trump, will see this new alliance with Putin against a beleaguered, little democracy with the same disgust and nausea that I do.

This is who Trump is. But it isn’t who Americans really are. I have faith that the West, now mortally wounded, can yet survive Trump and Putin, and re-emerge at some point. But it may be a dark, dark few years before the dawn’s early light breaks out again.

New On The Dishcast: Yoni Appelbaum

Yoni is a journalist and academic. He used to be a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard, and also taught at Babson College and Brandeis. He subsequently served in many editorial and writing roles at The Atlantic, where he’s currently a deputy executive editor. He just published his first book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. It’s an engrossing account of how zoning in America — yes, zoning — evolved from the Puritans onward. I was unexpectedly fascinated.

Listen to the episode here. There you can find two clips of our convo — on the racist origins of zoning, and how progressivism is keeping poor people in place. That link also takes you to commentary on our episodes with Jon Rauch on Christianism, Ross Douthat on the supernatural, and John Gray on Trump’s foreign policy. Plus, more reader debate on the dangers of DOGE and the dismal state of the Dems.

Money Quotes For The Week

“You can tell Trump doesn’t actually think Zelensky is a dictator because he isn’t doing the obsequious groveling act he pulls out for actual dictators,” – James Lippens.

“They were careless people, Trump and Musk — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that held them together,” – Bill Kristol, architect of the Iraq War.

“It’s interesting that the biggest actual fraud DOGE has stumbled upon is that of people (likely illegal immigrants) using someone else’s SSN to pay $8.5 billion INTO Social Security,” – Stuart Buck. Musk remains oblivious.

“If Barack Obama or any other prominent black participant in the big leagues of American politics had *13 CHILDREN OUT OF WEDLOCK* with 4 DIFFERENT WOMEN, it would be all anyone could ever talk about. Most conservatives seem not even to know this about Musk,” – Thomas Chatterton Williams. TCW is a bit behind the curve on American “conservatives”. They now cherish Andrew Tate, FFS.

“Hillary Clinton was put in charge of remaking America’s entire health care system. She wasn’t confirmed; her only authority came from being the president’s wife. [She] assembled a ‘task force’ with more than 600 members, who not only weren’t confirmed, but whose names were hidden from the public,” – Ann Coulter on DOGE. And Hillary failed, like she failed at everything.

“She defied Joe Biden and the left as they attempted to pressure her into making a public statement of support for the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution. However, Donald Trump fired her over the classified documents case in which she played no role,” – Erick Erickson on Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States. It’s heartening to see a few actual conservatives stand up to Musk.

“Hundreds of people showed up to protest the Trump administration removing all mention of trans people from the Stonewall National Memorial site — which, after all, commemorates a riot by trans people. It’s like telling Cooperstown they’re no longer allowed to mention baseball anymore,” – Rachel Maddow, removing gays and lesbians from our own movement, as is now the norm on the LGBTQIA2STNCJFC+ left.

Yglesias Award Nominees

“Zelensky ordered martial law — that’s what the constitution there compelled. Zelensky hasn’t called for an election — that’s what the constitution there compels. Now, I’m waiting for the first free election for Vladimir Putin. I mean, this is almost comical in a sick way that Putin is demanding an election. Why is he demanding an election in Ukraine when he doesn’t have free and real elections in his own country? And why does he get to call the shots when, in fact, he murders people who dare to challenge him?” – Mark Levin.

“Is [diversity] caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for? Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of Portlandia, which I have also experienced. And it is how Trump Republicans are made,” – Pete Buttigieg.

“I finally found one person I knew who got DOGE’d, and it hit me in the heart. … [People] like to talk about the slash-and-burn corporate ethos — [they] just need to be a little bit less callous with the way we talk about DOGE-ing people. I want that to sink in,” – Jesse Watters, Fox News.

The View From Your Window

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7.38 am

Dissents Of The Week

A reader writes:

You criticize the Bush administration for “huffing its own fumes” about the Iraq War, and while you’re not exactly huffing your own fumes on Trump’s “wanton cruelty for the sick, destitute, and hungry,” you’re certainly inhaling the exhaust from the Democrats.

USAID does do a lot of good, and PEPFAR is one great example. But is it possible — just possible? — that 20 years on, with many generic HIV meds and prevention, that it doesn’t need the full $6.5 billion a year it’s been getting? Or that there are programs within USAID that aren’t living up to expectations, and could be eliminated? Does the CFPB really do what Elizabeth Warren promised? I don’t know. But who even asks?

USAID as a whole comprises about 0.3% of the budget — but then every program comprises some small or fractional part of the budget. And while just about every president in my lifetime has promised to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” out of the budget, we have a $1.8 trillion deficit and a $36 trillion debt.

Maybe the 77 million Americans who voted for Trump did have something like this in mind: breaking through the suffocating, small politics of emotion that the Democrats, and even some congressional Republicans, can’t ever say “No” to? That tear-stained path one is the thing that’s led us to the massive, duplicative, and sometimes dysfunctional federal bureaucracy we’ve burdened ourselves with, and I don’t see anyone but Trump who’s politically invulnerable enough (right now) to do something about it.

I didn’t vote for Trump — or Musk, for that matter — but they’re moving fast and breaking things, and some of the things they’ll break need to get broken. We’ll be able to clean up the rest once they’re gone.

If I could see any evidence of actual elimination of fat and waste, rather than a pure smashing of every institution Musk thinks is run by libtards, I’d agree. If the trimming in any significant way helps reduce the deficit, which Trump is promising to explode, I’d agree. And here’s a promise. Let’s see in a year’s time where we are. If the record shows improved efficiency and lower costs, and the cuts aren’t reversed by the courts, I’ll be delighted to congratulate them. But I don’t see it right now.

Here’s more from a reader on the CFPB — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:

I have to push back on your take that by opposing the CFPB, Trump and Musk were working against populist instincts. The CFPB was a boondoggle for large banks and a thorn in the side of small banks and regionals. Regulation is a subsidy to the large, and a nonsensical, crony, unaccountable entity like the CFPB never laid a finger on big banks, and instead went after the hugely important, systemic issues post-financial crisis like … credit card reward points, debit card fees, and most recently, videogame tokens. Good riddance — and a National Review guy like me or a Jacksonian populist off the street should be equally pleased.

Another reader was disappointed by my column in a different way:

What do you have to say for all the federal workers who have been fired or are facing unlawful termination now? Your column feels a little glib, as my husband — a retired Air Force officer and now federal worker at a major medical hospital — faces losing a job he loves. Not to mention all of my family losing our access to military healthcare as we get kicked out to the private sector, which is WAY more expensive than treatment on base.

By the time the courts weigh in, the damage will be so far gone, I don’t know how it’s saved. My husband says everyone is walking around the hospital in a daze. Morale is down. Active duty personnel rely heavily on GS employees. This is real for us. I pity the next person who thanks my family for our service; they’re going to get an earful from me on how they can truly thank us.

I think I’ve made my doubts about this legally-challenged rampage clear enough. More dissents are over on the pod page, arriving in your in-tray shortly. As always, please keep the criticism coming: dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Mental Health Break

Almost 30 visual artists came together for a dreamlike song from Coldplay:

In The ‘Stacks

• Anne Appelbaum marks the “end of the postwar world.” Fukuyama is gobsmacked. Vance picks a fight with Niall over the Ukraine talks.
• David Lat covers the court crisis over Eric Adams.
• As if we needed a reminder of Hamas’ evil.
• Benny Morris keeps an eye on Israeli expansionism.
• CBS News has a speech problem.
• The GOP has a baby-daddy problem.
• Joe Klein reviews the effect of autism on this administration.
• Matt Yglesias continues to carve a path for “Common Sense Democrats.” Ruy Teixeira keeps pleading for a working-class message.
• Could Rahm Emanuel save the Dems? They need their own DOGE when it comes to DEI.
• Jim Fallows: “From ‘Defund the Police’ to ‘Defund Air Traffic Control.’”
• Nate Silver sizes up the short life of congestion pricing in NYC.
• Which reporter did Trump compare to his psychiatrist?
• Kemi is struggling to revive the Tories so far. How are they handling Trump?
• New research suggests that a huge portion of “Long Covid” patients were actually vaccine-injured.
• Richard Hanania isn’t worried about AI taking jobs.
• Michael Ard reviews a new Reagan bio by Max Boot: “egregiously incorrect and unfair.”
• The NYT is backsliding on its trans coverage, circling the “genderqueer” wagons.

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“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” – Orwell