The prospect that Donald Trump could make a return engagement in the Oval Office if he is re-elected in 2024 is not being lost on European diplomats who are expressing fears and making contingency plans should that occur.
According to a New York Times report, one diplomat called the idea of the return of unpredictable and abrasive Trump "terrifying."
As the Times' Steven Erlanger wrote, "For most European governments, it is almost too upsetting to think about, let alone debate in public. But the prospect that Donald J. Trump could win the Republican nomination for the presidency and return to the White House is a prime topic of private discussion."
Steven Everts, a European Union diplomat, explained, "We were relieved by President Biden and his response to Ukraine but now we’re forced to confront the Trump question again.”
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Everts is not alone in his fears of a rerun of the first Trump presidency that ended with his loss to Joe Biden and a subsequent attempted insurrection by the former president's followers.
According to Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, a former German government official, a second Trump term “would be different from the first, and much worse,” warning, "Trump has experience now and knows what levers to pull, and he’s angry.”
Kleine-Brockhoff also explained that former Chancellor Angela Merkel knew how to deal with Trump but now no one is in position to handle "Trump Two."
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A top concern of allies of the U.S. is how a return of the four-time indicted president would affect Ukraine's war against the invading Russia in which all European nations have a vested interest.
According to Thomas Gomart, the director of the French Institute of International Relations, "It’s absolutely clear that Putin intends to continue the war, at least until the American elections, and hopes for Trump. It could be a big shock for Europeans.”
“But Trump is unpredictable to an uncomfortable degree for everyone,” Michal Baranowski of the German Marshall Fund lamented.
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