President Trump criticized Europe once again, this time asserting that the United States should prioritize concerns about ‘migrant rape gangs and drug lords’ over Vladimir Putin.

The President expressed this viewpoint on his social media platform, Truth Social, emphasizing the need to focus less on Putin and more on issues such as migrant crime, drug trafficking, and individuals with criminal backgrounds entering the country to prevent a situation similar to that of Europe.

Trump’s comments represent a brutal reality check for Europe where the continent may not be able to rely on America for its security anymore.

While Trump refrained from explicitly calling for the US to withdraw from NATO, he has consistently portrayed the relationship as imbalanced following his re-election.

He told reporters that he doubted the value of spending money on NATO – since the US was protecting NATO members but they were ‘not protecting us’.

In December Trump said that the bloc would have to more than double its spending target of two per cent – a target which over a quarter of its members were on course to fail to meet. 

And in February 2024 the President said he would encourage Russia to do ‘whatever the hell they want’ with any of the 32 NATO member states who failed to meet such ambitious defence spending targets. 

During his first term Trump previously threatened to quit the alliance after he consistently aired his grievances about member’s defence spending.  

Since Trump returned to the White House, the war in Ukraine has represented a growing rift between America and its European allies. 

Last week in  an extraordinary meeting between the President and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week, the two leaders got into a heated argument which ended with Zelensky being booted out of the White House. 

Tempers flared on all sides during the Oval Office showdown. Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine completely if Zelensky did not agree to his peace terms. He also accused Zelensky of not being grateful.

Zelensky held his own, even showing Trump photos he brought of the devastation to his country, and arguing he had thanked the American people.

The yelling match was unlike anything ever seen publicly in the Oval Office. And it played out on TV screens across the world.

‘You’re gambling with World War III,’ Trump bellowed Zelensky at one point.

The President has since demanded a public apology from Zelensky.  

Yesterday, European leaders and Canada gathered in London for a summit to discuss the conflict and how to respond to the ‘brutal reality’ of the US pulling back from military guarantees by ramping up defence spending. 

The summit was already planned before the on-camera slanging match with Trump and his vice president JD Vance. 

Speaking after the summit, the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the world was at a ‘crossroads in history’ and he wanted to forge a way forward that could be presented to the US.

Positioning himself as a bridge to the White House, Sir Keir told a press conference that he still regarded America as a ‘reliable ally’. ‘We agree with the president on the urgent need for a durable peace… now we need to deliver together,’ he said.

However, he stressed that any deal must have ‘strong US backing’ with ‘every nation contributing in the best way it can’.

The comments came after European leaders spent hours trying to thrash out a strategy after the grim scenes in the Oval Office on Friday night.

After embracing Mr Zelensky on the steps of Lancaster House in London, the PM told him ‘we are all with you’ and urged the gathering to step up to a ‘once in a generation moment’. 

French President Emmanuel Macron and the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were present as Britain, France and Italy look set to take key roles in a ‘coalition of the willing’ to enforce any peace deal with Russia. 

The UK and France have both already pledged to provide troops on the ground if necessary.

But there still appear to be huge obstacles – not least that Russia has yet to agree to beginning talks with Ukraine, and the US envisages formal ceding of territory while many European states regard that as unacceptable.

In an attempt to mend fences with America, Zelensky stressed his gratitude for the US’s assistance and indicated that he was prepared to sign Trump’s mineral deal.

Meanwhile, there are also growing concerns amongst European nations that Trump could pull the US out of NATO.

Indeed, there is clear momentum within the White House towards an isolationist, ‘America First’ position and the president has repeatedly berated his fellow NATO allies for not increasing their defence spending quickly enough. 

Trump’s advisor Elon Musk called for the US to leave NATO in a post on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend. 

Gunther Eagleman, a political commentator with 1.3 million followers, who describes himself as a ‘Proud America First MAGA Patriot’, wrote ‘It’s time to leave NATO and the UN’ in an X post on March 1. 

That message was reposted by Musk, the leader of Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who simply added ‘I agree’.

Musk also today reposted a tweet by Republican congressman Thomas Massie, the representative for Kentucky’s forth congressional district since 2012, which called NATO ‘a Cold War relic that needs to be relegated to a talking kiosk at the Smithsonian’.