Around 73,000 American soldiers set out in the summer of 1944 to bring freedom to Europe. Over 2,000 members of the 1st, 2nd, and 29th Infantry Divisions, as well as the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, fell on the first day of the landings. By August 1944, the United States had to mourn nearly 30,000 dead.
Their sacrifice is still honoured in Europe. In France, the “landing” is commemorated annually, most recently in the presence of U.S. President Joe Biden marking the 80th anniversary. He called on the Americans to defend democracy and urged the free world to support Ukraine.
His successor has now made it clear to the world that the United States of America no longer supports a fight for freedom, democracy, etc. Trump, Vance, and their ilk not only humiliated the defender of Western values in the Oval Office but also withdrew the support that Ukraine needs in the fight against Russia’s invasion.
America has made its decision: instead of standing by the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom, it is – indirectly – collaborating with the conqueror. That’s the State of the Union, which no one can rely on anymore. Neither nations nor individuals. Under the real estate agent as president, the USA is stepping down as the leader of the West. It admits defeat in the Cold War and settles on its own continent behind walls of taxes, tariffs etc.
Whether and for how long the United States of America will still need the European foothold will become clear in the coming years. If “the lamps are going out all over Europe” (Edward Grey, August 3rd 1914) again, then the American invaders did indeed die a pointless death.
Trump would have made a deal with Hitler. At the expense of France, the Benelux countries, and anyone else occupied by the Greater German Reich. And we – with the USA – would have been a world power. (And a dictatorship.)
