President Donald Trump's erratic response to the COVID-19 pandemic has unnerved the United States' European allies, as they are no longer looking to America for leadership amid a global crisis.
In interviews with the New York Times, Europeans said they have been shocked at how poorly the United States has responded to the pandemic, both in terms of lives lost and economic damage.
"We are all stunned," said Henrik Enderlein, president of the Berlin-based Hertie School. "Look at the jobless lines. Twenty-two million."
"I feel a desperate sadness," said Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European history at Oxford University.
And political scientist Dominique Moïsi tells the Times that the pandemic has exposed major holes in the United States, ranging from a health care system whose high costs have left Americans wary of going to the hospital, as well as having a president who disregards the advice of scientists.
"America has not done badly, it has done exceptionally badly," he said. "It raises the question: Has America become the wrong kind of power with the wrong kind of priorities?"