Joschka Fischer: Ball now in Europe’s court to renew transatlantic alliance

As Donald Trump prepares to leave the White House, the greatest mistake European leaders could make is to sit back and resume their subordinate role in the transatlantic relationship

It is time for Europe to redress its relationship with the US. Pictured in 2018 at the G7 summit
are German chancellor Angela Merkel, US president Donald Trump, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. File picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Despite all his whining and wailing, Donald Trump’s presidency will end on January 20, 2021. He will be history, but, sadly, his political legacy will endure. With almost 75m Americans voting for him, Trump mobilised an extraordinary and unexpected level of support among a base that will continue to steer the Republican Party toward his brand of nationalist isolationism.

Like a revenant, Trumpism will haunt US politics for a long time to come, and some version of it will be on the ballot again in 2024 — that much is already clear. To vanquish Trumpism, Democrats needed to muster a “blue wave” of electoral victories all the way down the ballot. They didn’t.