Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are worrying European leaders, who are now preparing their governments for a scenarios in which NATO will have to survive with reduced or nonexistent U.S. support. While the rather conventional nomination of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to be secretary of state caused some relief, the nominations of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, to be director of national intelligence and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary quickly jolted Europe back to the stunning reality.
Neither Rubio nor Mike Waltz, who was nominated to be Trump’s national security advisor, sparked giddy enthusiasm, but as one European diplomat put it to Politico: “They are a bit less awful than others.” Neither Hegseth nor Gabbard, on the other hand, have little experience in their respective portfolios; Gabbard in particular has provoked consternation over her promotion of Kremlin talking points and conspiracy theories.
“This is really terrifying,” Nathalie Loiseau, former French Europe minister under President Emmanuel Macron and now a lawmaker in the European Parliament’s Renew Europe group, posted on X.
“I’m not sure whether it’s really possible to make any sensible predictions about the direction of this administration based on the staff picks,” another European diplomat told Politico. But if Trump acts on his most unilateralist tendencies, the first diplomat worries, Hegseth and Gabbard would hardly be the people to push back. “What’s clear is that there is not going to be any counterweight to Trump. They owe him everything,” he said.
Throughout his first term, Trump often disregarded the advice of his cabinet officials and intelligence agencies to make ambitious foreign policy declarations and pursue direct arrangements with autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. He has also proven erratic, at one point praising them, at another insulting them and starting trade wars with China.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a German lawmaker who leads the European Parliament’s subcommittee on security and defense, is preparing for the worst. “The time of European restraint and the hope that the USA would protect us is over,” she said.
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