Europe wrongly blames Trump for its latest crisis

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French President Emmanuel Macron is leading the European Union’s latest panic-buying spree. Only this time, instead of toilet paper, they’re looking to stockpile weapons. Same irrational impulse.

Naturally, Macron is blaming U.S. President Donald Trump (suddenly) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (perpetually) for the urgent need to splurge. How convenient. All because Trump has changed Washington’s position in Ukraine, opting for peace with Russia.

The French are largely fine with spending more on defense – as long as it doesn’t cut into their vacation funds or sacred evening apéros at the “restos.” When pollsters ask them about personal sacrifices for national security, they balk. If the threat were truly existential, you’d think they might be willing to forgo a weekly night of rosé and foie gras. So, in reality, their collective fear level registers at little more than a Gallic shrug.

But Macron is pushing the narrative that Trump is abandoning Europe to fend for itself against Russia. A recent Elabe poll found that three out of four French citizens no longer consider the U.S. an ally. But here’s the kicker: Washington really hasn’t been a net positive for Europe in decades. If anything, it’s been a liability to the average European.

How exactly has the U.S. economically or militarily benefited European citizens when EU tax cash earmarked for weapons has funneled straight into American defense companies? In just the first year of the Ukraine war in 2022, 78 percent of EU weapons spending went outside the bloc, with 63 percent heading to the U.S., according to a competitiveness report by former European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi.

What credible danger were those “Made in America” weapons actually protecting Europe from? I’ll wait.

And what makes the French think that Biden was some great ally? Or that Trump is the reason things are suddenly dangerous?

Biden, after all, was the one who openly suggested in January 2022 that the Nord Stream pipeline – Europe’s economic lifeline of cheap Russian gas – would be eliminated if Russia invaded Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stood beside him, looking like a man who just realized he left the oven on. And when Nord Stream mysteriously exploded later that year, American liquefied natural gas conveniently swooped in to save the day – at several times the price. Pure coincidence, no doubt.

“We need to increase our defense capabilities and build, over the next few years, autonomous defense capabilities for Europeans,” Macron declared on March 6.

Why? Because Russia is “a threat to Europe” that “seems to know no borders,” he insisted.

Conveniently, he ignores that Russia has largely operated within eastern Ukraine – where Russian-speaking populations were already under fire and where NATO had been quietly setting up shop for years.

So how do the French actually feel about all this? Polls show they don’t want troops in Ukraine. They’re fine with sending a few in post-war to help sweep up the rubble, but right now? Hard pass. Given that the establishment-friendly French media operates with all the independence of a Labrador Retriever, many French haven’t quite grasped that NATO’s habit – with French troops or otherwise – of poking around Russia’s borders is how this whole mess escalated in the first place.

The French are theoretically OK with military aid, but they’d rather not foot the bill through tax hikes. What many also fail to realize is that most European “aid” to Ukraine isn’t even military but financial. The EU has been funding it by pocketing the interest from frozen Russian assets in Europe and redirecting it to Kyiv. Theft, but with extra bureaucracy!

Macron is now using Trump as an excuse to funnel money into the EU’s own military-industrial complex. But let’s be real: Europe hasn’t fought a conventional war on its own soil in nearly a century – unless you count NATO’s intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s. Its existing military capabilities have been more than adequate for that level of involvement.

Europe only started wailing about its “urgent” defense needs after it got into the habit of stirring up trouble in Africa, Ukraine and the Middle East – either as Washington’s sidekick or as an empire-builder in its own right. Naturally, this led to resistance – which conveniently justifies buying more weapons while pretending the homeland is under threat.

The dirty little secret? Europe doesn’t actually need to militarize. The real threat isn’t Russia – it’s the self-inflicted economic damage caused by Macron and his fellow EU ruling class, which is mostly the result of selling out Europe to Washington-backed special interests. And no amount of extra tanks is going to fix that.

Oh, wait – maybe it just might! European defense stocks have soared since the EU announced its latest taxpayer-funded splurge on arms manufacturing. “European defense shares jump as blistering rally gathers pace,” the Financial Times reports.

So perhaps this is less about security and more about pumping cash into certain sectors under the guise of a crisis.

Unfortunately for Europeans, they can’t eat bullets or live in tanks.

Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of independently produced talk shows in French and English. Her website can be found at http://www.rachelmarsden.com.