President Donald Trump is increasingly positioning the United States as an outright opponent of the European Union and the global democratic order, wrote his niece Mary Trump in an urgent article on her Substack published on Monday.
Mary Trump, a psychologist who has frequently criticized her uncle's policies and warned he is showing signs of dementia, took particular aim at the Trump administration's National Security Strategy (NSS) document turned over to Congress — which, among other things, signals the administration won't oppose Russian influence campaigns, won't support Ukraine's membership in to NATO, and generally won't support the priorities of the EU going forward.
"None of this should surprise us," she wrote. "Donald and those in his orbit, including JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and every single congressional Republican, have shown themselves willing to turn the United States of America into an autocratic fascist regime in which white nationalism is the order of the day. But the implications are vast and far-reaching — not just a re-configuring of the post-World War II order, but a complete American withdrawal from it."
Indeed, she continued, it's perfectly natural Trump wouldn't want to use American power to promote democracy as it has sought to do for decades: "Donald, from the perch of his imperial presidency — thanks to the corrupt illegitimate super majority of the Supreme Court — cares nothing for democratic values. So, therefore, with the Trump regime in charge of everything, neither does America. It is a terrible time for this country to abandon its role as leader and champion of global democracy; it is a terrible time for there to be such a leadership void during this crucial period in which autocracy is on the rise and democracy is on its back foot."
Russian officials are celebrating this shift, Mary Trump warned, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov saying of the NSS, "The adjustments we’re seeing ... are largely consistent with our vision. We consider this a positive step."
"Perhaps the most significant tell in the NSS is the description of a Europe that is on the brink of 'civilizational erasure,' a phrase that Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister, says is 'to the right of the extreme right,'" wrote Mary Trump. And this will have huge implications for the way Europe views America long after Trump is gone.
"The Trump regime is setting something else in motion, and it is something they may not be able to control," she concluded. "It is certainly something we American voters will have no control over. We can get rid of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans and the Trump regime. We cannot un-ring the bell that has been rung by the Trump regime in Europe and elsewhere."