I watched a bit of the meeting, not the whole thing, but the bit where Trump and Vance started lashing out at Zelenskyy. There’s been a lot of talk about it on here, and I agree Trump and Vance are big man babies trying to bully Ukraine into an unfavorable deal, but I’m still not clear on how this affects, well, everything I guess. Can someone ELI5?
Even before Trump and Vance lashed out, it was a shitshow. Every time Zelenskyy brought up security, Trump dismissed it because the the minerals were “more important.”
European leaders were certainly watching, and their main takeaway was certainly that Trump can and will sacrifice the security of American allies for money.
Europe and many of the US’s allies had lower military spending and did not to pursue nuclear programs because there was the expectation that the US would help protect these countries. This was exactly the promise that the US gave to Ukraine that got them to give up their nuclear research.
Now that it’s become clear that the US cannot be relied upon for security, many of the US’s allies are certain to start reconsidering their stance on the military and nuclear weapons. As US soft power crumbles, I expect that new, smaller factions will arise to fill the void, and I expect that China will likely try to expand its influence as well.
Nice response!