Cries on the Left and among liberals and neoconservatives in the Republican Party bemoan President Trump and his administration for challenging our traditional “allies” on trade and in military alliances. Media talking heads cry foul at Trump’s abandonment or attack on our NATO allies for daring to ask them to pay more for defense, when the United States pays the overwhelming majority of the cost for the bloc’s security.

Since the end of World War II, however, the nations of Western Europe—spent as they were from centuries of conflict and infighting—had arrived at the point of civilizational exhaustion. As a result, Western Europe gave into the comforts of the American security umbrella and has since become complacent and, to be entirely honest, entitled. President Donald Trump’s recent strong-arming of the NATO alliance is not an abandonment of our Western allies, but a wake-up call to our European brethren that their half-a-century break from the necessity of proudly standing up for their nations and their cultural identities is now over.

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, the United States (courtesy of the American taxpayer) implemented the Marshall Plan investing $12 billion ($100 billion in today’s dollars) to rebuild Western Europe after the destruction brought about by the war. In the time since that rebuilding, the nations of Western Europe have enjoyed the protection of the U.S. security umbrella while spending very little of on their own treasure on defense. Meanwhile, they have had the luxury to reallocate their tax revenue towards generous social welfare programs to benefit their own citizens and, now, those they have welcomed into their countries because of their supposed superior generosity. Of the 29 members of NATO, only 5 members spend at least 2 percent of their GDP for defense (US 3.5 percent, Greece 2.27 percent, Estonia 2.24 percent, United Kingdom 2.1 percent and Latvia at 2 percent).

It is unacceptable that historically great military nations such as Britain, Germany, France and Italy should spend so little on their defenses. This is not intended to be an insult to these beautiful nations or their rich histories and traditions, but the current feckless leadership of their politicians does deserve insulting. With the exception of Matteo Salvini’s coalition government in Italy, the leaders and ruling parties of Europe are mainly post-national globalists who care little about the preservation of their nations’ cultures, traditions, identities, or heritage.

Consider, for example, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s utterly fallacious claim that there are “no half or whole Germans, no biological or ‘new’ Germans” and that Germany is a “nation of immigrants.” And the European elite wonders why national populist movements have done so well in the past few years.

The recent elections either sweeping national populists to power (La Lega in Italy and the OVP and FPO in Austria) or bringing them to mainstream prominence (the AfD in Germany, the PVV in The Netherlands, the National Rally in France or theSweden Democrats in Sweden) have been a sign that the people of the nations of Europe are fed up with the self-loathing and abandonment of traditions and culture by their leaders. These parties are lambasted by the mainstream media as “far-right” or “fascistic” in an attempt to de-legitimize them.

In their desire to re-affirm political normalcy and reverse the self-destructive policies that have been in place for the last two decades, however, they are the moderates. In comparison, we can see that nations of Eastern Europe, like Hungary, which have recently suffered from blind adherence to ideological universalist extremism in the form of communism, have not been eager to abandon their national identity and, as a result of the European migrant crisis, have increased security measures to protect their citizenry. Perhaps they have something to teach the West.

The old bipolar world order is over. Two decades into the 21st century, we are living through the death throes of the postwar order and the birth of a new order Nations across the world are realizing that, in many cases, decades-old alliances existed only because of the United States and the Soviet Union’s scramble for global influence and power during the Cold War. Well, that era has passed. Nations that were formerly allies are developing conflicts of interest due to cultural and civilizational differences (i.e., the United States and Turkey), and nations that were once political adversaries are growing closer because of cultural and civilizational similarities (the United States and former Eastern Bloc nations).

It is time for the governments of Europe to realize that their military alliance with America must be reformed as one to protect Western Civilization from emerging threats, as opposed to threats that no longer exist. So no, liberals and neocons, it is not Trump who has abandoned Europe, it is Europe that has abandoned itself. The question now is how much longer Europeans will allow this to continue?

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