Dear subreddit,
As a European with a pro-transatlantic outlook, I am curious about your perspective on the U.S.-Europe relationship—not to argue, but to learn.
Much of the conservative discourse I’ve encountered frames Europe as a dependent, militarily negligent partner. While I agree that Europe must strengthen its defense, this view often neglects a crucial dimension: soft power. The US do not extend military protection for nothing—they gain significant influence over European politics, economy, and culture. For decades, European policy has mirrored American priorities, from sanctions and defense expenditures to technology regulations and foreign interventions. We watch your films, use your platforms, absorb your narratives, even let you spy on us without conseqences. This is not merely alliance; it is strategic leverage.
My question is this: Is the U.S. willing to relinquish this influence? Should Europe pursue true strategic autonomy, even if it diverges from American interests? Or is maintaining this soft-power hegemony still essential to U.S. strategy?
I look forward to your insights.
🇺🇸🤝🇪🇺
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While some conservatives advocate for greater European autonomy and burden-sharing, I suspect conservatives like me value our soft power influence in Europe. The transatlantic relationship should remain a cornerstone of foreign policy.
Im utterly amazed at the pure ignorance I’ve seen in our party over this issue. Politicians used to be able to see further than the current business week, USAID was always supported by conservatives because they understood how much leverage and good will it gave us around the world. So many countries being dependent on our military and arms production was strategic and intentional, it was a pro quid pro to maintain our leverage and influence while the countries also got to benefit off of protection without so much financial burden. Trump has betrayed our country in a way that won’t become apparent for a while, but make no mistake the damage is done and there’s no going back. Our allies can no longer trust us, the Supreme Court is the only reason 2 billion dollars was paid for work already done and it passed by a slim margin. There’s no longer trust in the US, as for foreign aid you can bet your ass china is filling any gap we left, they already had growing leverage in Africa and this is just the cherry on top. Every aspect that we were still superior to china in on the global scale has now been decimated. I’m not trying to sound like a doomsayer, America will not cease to exist and we will continue on but the age of US being the global power is over; this is the beginning of the end of that era and there’s no telling what repercussions it will have. Us having leverage hasn’t always been good for other parts of the world, but it kept us in a bubble, a bubble that has spoiled the American people and given them an unreal nepo baby attitude “America Exceptionalism” is our downfall, and soon other conservatives will see how much we truly have been gaining from our relationships with the rest of the world. They only look at the surface level and therefore think we’ve been taken advantage of, but you better belief for every dime the US sent around the world we made a ten fold profit with the complex rewards it sent back our way. But now that’s over. Putin is celebrating. Literally, Russian diplomats have been celebrating lol.
I agree with your premise overall. That being that the US military has gained the US a lot of soft power throughout much of Europe. It’s a relationship that neither side really wants to be honest about really, at least not publicly.
The US doesn’t want to admit that it has gained much of anything, or worse… is dependant on anyone… for anything…. ever. The US is the world’s police, and the number one defender of freedom in the world. Yeah, it sounds ridiculously silly, but to some degree, that’s the view many Americans have.
Meanwhile across the pond. Europe would really rather not have to admit not just the extent that it has gained from being so closely allied to the US. But moreso how much of that gain it has squandered. Europe has had almost a century now that it could’ve done all kinds of things seeing as it didn’t have to worry about funding any kind of significant military. And with all that free time, what have they to show for it?
The coming years will be a reckoning of sorts for both sides I believe. China is the looming adversary on the horizon for both Europe and the US. There are a few in Europe who believe that they get to "choose" who to align with in any given conflict and that all is well, and that up until now it’s just always been the US. Simultaneously, there are just as many in the US who believe that the US is just entitled to the allies that we’ve had for so long now, and that regardless of what we do. That there will never be a shortage of countries that want nothing more than to be our friends.
While I’m just spitballing all this off the top of my head. I think that much of the US is going to find out just how important that soft power really is, and how much we benefit from it going forward. I think many people in the US are completely unaware how losing such a thing will affect prices, availability, resources, and all the other benefits that go along with it. It appears that they’ll find out the hard way.
Going the other way, I think Europeans are going to face some pretty harsh realizations of their own in the coming years. All those social safety nets and universal healthcare that they love talking about so much? Yeah, most of that is going to go one of two places. It will either be going to complete shit, as those countries will now have to spend on their military. Or it will be going down the toilet altogether. It’s likely that it will first become the shit, that is ultimately flushed down the toilet further down the line. There’s a hard economics lesson to be learned by many Europeans, because no matter which way you math it… there’s simply no way for the government to provide everything it currently does, while also providing a competent military. I suspect that the naive would advocate that communism is the correct answer here, but that’s a whole different can of worms altogether.