When Donald Trump won the election last year, sage heads nodded and said: “Well, he is right that Europe should shoulder more of the burden of its own defence.” Now we know what that means – and the burden may be harder to bear than we thought.
For all Mr Trump’s coarseness, his authoritarianism and his fondness for dictators, no one could have predicted the viciousness of his attempt to humiliate Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. No one could have predicted his grotesque inversion of reality, accusing Mr Zelensky of “gambling with World War III” by being so reckless as to lead his people in fighting back against an unprovoked invasion.
Mr Trump is engaged in appeasement, and the world must say so. He is selling out the values of the American republic. It was founded on the right of people to determine their own future, and the US has sought to stand by that principle in international affairs. It has not always done it well, but never before has the president of the US disdained that principle explicitly and told a brave nation fighting for its survival that it would be better if it gave up. “Leader of the free world” no more.
Some Europeans may have naively imagined that Mr Trump and his vice-president, who demeaned himself as the sidekick to the bully-in-chief on Friday, simply sought to rebalance the burden of the war in Ukraine: that the US should pay less; Europe should pay a bit more. That is reasonable enough, although as Mr Zelensky tried to point out, it is also in the national interest of the US that Vladimir Putin does not prevail.
Now we are under no illusion. Mr Trump’s strategy is not that Ukraine should negotiate an end to the war from a position of strength, but that it should be forced to end the war by being put in a position of weakness.
Europe must therefore step up and make sure that Mr Trump does not succeed in pushing the Ukrainian people to surrender. It is up to Europe alone now to make sure that the Ukrainians negotiate from as strong a position as possible.
As Mr Zelensky put it on his arrival in London on Saturday: “The Russians are killing us. Russia is the enemy, and that’s the reality we face. Ukraine wants peace, but it must be a just and lasting peace. For that, we need to be strong at the negotiation table.”
The Independent understands that Sir Keir Starmer, as the convenor of European leaders on Sunday, has to speak diplomatically and has to maintain a channel of communication with the White House. We do not expect him to condemn Mr Trump for his contemptible treatment of Mr Zelensky.
Indeed, the prime minister did the right thing, while the other capitals of Europe were echoing with outrage: he spoke on the phone to both Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, in separate conversations, and put out a statement reiterating “his unwavering support for Ukraine”.
Sir Keir has put Britain in a good position to lead the difficult discussion among European leaders that must begin in Downing Street. By announcing an increase in UK defence spending, he is able to ask other European nations to make similar commitments.
The aim must still be to help President Zelensky to negotiate from a position of strength. That will require painful choices to be made across the continent, but Mr Trump has made it clear – in the most unedifying way – that they cannot be avoided. Europe must now show unity and collective leadership.
