The moment when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sat silently next to Donald Trump as Trump criticized Spain and other European countries was not merely European submission but European betrayal of itself, because it involved a European leader tacitly endorsing Trump's attacks on another European country rather than defending European interests collectively.
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Speaker
Natalie TocciEvidence Quote
“the tragedy really of that moment, as I see it, is that it wasn't only, quote unquote, yet another moment of European submission, but it was actually, I think, also the risk of a moment of a European betrayal of itself”
Source
Nathalie Tocci and Matthias Matthijs: Are Europe and the United States Finally Heading For Divorce?— Foreign AffairsCreated: 8/12/2026, 6:08:35 PM
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