In 1966, after years of friction with the US over whether France should have its own independent nuclear deterrent, the French president, Charles de Gaulle, withdrew his country from Nato’s integrated command (not, however, from the alliance itself – a common misconception) and asked all US forces stationed in France to leave.
In the same way as Nato cannot – for the moment – functionally exist without the US, its most powerful member, the “west” cannot conceptually exist when the country representing 35% of its roughly 1 billion inhabitants and more than 40% of its economy appears hostile to liberal democratic values under the rule of law, favouring instead a techno-nihilist oligarchy under competitive authoritarianism.
None of this radical remaking of the US constitutional order is hidden – Trump has, more than once, mentioned serving a third term, despite US presidential term limits.
With threats to conduct economic war or outright invade in order to annex Canada and Greenland, the US is now the primary menace facing its peaceful northern neighbour, and the second largest threat to its erstwhile European allies.
Even if – and the probability of this is dropping fast – the US has free and fair elections in 2028 that remove Trump and the Republicans from power, there is no unbreaking what is now shattered.
