A Europe thus benighted would dash America’s post-Cold War vision of a continent “whole and free” that the European Union and the Atlantic alliance, for all their problems, have done much to advance and which has been an enduring source of geopolitical stability.

Of course, the Trump administration has made clear its disdain for those accomplishments.

Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance exhorted European leaders at the Munich Security Conference to stop shunning the extreme parties in their midst. German politicians, he argued, should remove the “firewall” against working with populist parties, clearly referring to the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. Afterward, he met with the AfD leader. Elon Musk, who seems to be acting like President Trump’s prime minister, congratulated the party’s leader on its second-place showing in Sunday’s elections in Germany.

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