Donald Trump’s bruising return to the White House has sent many longtime foreign allies scrambling to get their distance, and according to a new piece from The Atlantic, that distance will last long after Trump is gone.
Trump’s second term as president has been marked by notable and widespread disrespect toward nations once seen as close U.S. allies. Between his attempts to level massive tariffs against nearly every nation in the world and his frequent breaches of diplomatic norms, Trump has created a hostile global environment in which allies no longer feel safe trusting in the stability of the U.S.
In a new piece for The Atlantic on Tuesday, staff writer Vivian Salama argued that this new dynamic, in which the nations of the world are working to establish a safe distance from the U.S., is bound to become the new normal for years to come, even after Trump leaves office and is potentially replaced by a more traditional, dependable administration.
You don’t realize how dangerous it is to treat politics and elections as predictable. You talk here about complexity, yet you make simple statements like ‘conservatives have not been relevant in over 10 years, therefore the threat is not there.’ Here is an example from Canada: the Parti Québécois lost relevancy in 2011; in 2022 they only won 3 seats, but now in 2026 they are very near forming a majority.