• Politics
• Military
• United States
• Russia
• Europe

Now, the world’s most powerful leader—U.S. President Donald Trump—and the world’s richest man—Elon Musk—are aligning the world’s greatest superpower with Europe’s greatest enemy by actively supporting the same far-right movements, attacking the same democratic governments, and flooding the European information space with the same kind of disinformation, often including Kremlin talking points virtually word for word.

It was unfathomable enough that Washington, Silicon Valley, and Moscow are now partnering to make Europe safe for the toxic mix of autocracy and oligarchy that has long characterized Russia and now appears to be taking rapid steps toward establishing itself in the United States.

Even more dangerous is the fact that Europe’s formerly greatest ally has so much more power to do European societies harm. For all the resources Russian President Vladimir Putin has poured into his online troll farms, they are insignificant compared to the military, economic, political, and technological might of the United States. Moreover, Europe’s immune system to protect itself against the United States is much weaker. Occasional transatlantic spats aside, Europe’s policymakers have been accustomed to seeing the United States as their greatest friend and ally. It’s a massive psychological leap for Europeans to acknowledge Washington’ actively hostile intentions and bake these into their actions going forward.

What can Europe do to confront both the Russian threat and a United States that is actively trying to undermine it? On Russia, Europeans will need to do even more on defense and societal resilience. Europe belatedly banned RT, Sputnik, and other Russian propaganda outlets, but it will be far more difficult to divorce the European internet from some of the world’s most powerful and intrusive corporations. Already, X (formerly Twitter) has turned into a sewer of extremist and pro-Russian information since Musk purchased the network. Going into Sunday’s German elections, Musk campaigned for the far-right Alternative for Germany, and that party’s posts are getting far greater visibility on X. (U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance also promoted the party during a visit to Germany last week.) With U.S. tech CEOs cozying up to Trump since the U.S. election, we should expect this nefarious deluge to rise.

Part of the response will be to change the approach to Trump. Until last week, European leaders thought about pleasing him by buying more U.S. weapons and natural gas. But if Washington now wants to actively weaken Europe, the opposite is called for. Russia has taught Europeans that dependencies can be weaponized. With that lesson in mind, Europe should bolster its defenses by gradually reducing—and certainly not increasing—its dependence on the United States.

Perhaps this will turn out to be just a nasty parenthesis in an enduring transatlantic friendship. But it’s surely wiser for Europeans to assume and plan for the opposite.