THE liberal internationalist consensus – born post-1945, uniting Europe’s political class across left and right – is on its last legs. Donald Trump’s return to power signals the shift: America’s global babysitting days are fading, and the old order’s grip is slipping. Desperate to hold on, leaders cast Ukraine’s war with Russia as a grand stand – Zelensky as Churchill, Putin as Hitler, a last-ditch rally for a fading creed. It’s a potent image, but it won’t save what’s already lost.
This isn’t about ideals, it’s about survival. Kiev’s fight gets draped in Manichean terms, good versus evil, with royal visits and wartime echoes meant to shore up a narrative. Yet the cracks predate this war – Brexit, Trump’s first term and rising nationalism have been chipping away for years. Trump 2’s ‘America First’ redux seals it: no more endless aid for Ukraine, no more illusions of a seamless West. The Churchill-Hitler framing feels less like strategy and more like a retreat to a safer past, a way to dodge the reckoning.
Europe’s elite know it’s slipping, hence the fanfare, the kingly handshakes. But Ukraine can’t resurrect a consensus that’s already buckling under its own weight. The liberal order – open borders, cultural decline, supranational oversight – faces a world turning inward. Trump isn’t the spark; he’s the accelerant. The real story is what comes next: nationalism, realism, a leaner politics. Ukraine’s defiance buys time, not triumph, for a ghost. Clinging to 1945 won’t cut it. The future’s here – we need to work with it.
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