Some will conclude that the Supreme Court has just demonstrated the strength of American democracy and its checks and balances. They will say that there was no reason to despair of the United States and even less reason to bury the Atlantic Alliance, since it is clear that Trump will ultimately have been nothing more than a passing interlude.
It is hard to disagree with them, given that this president had suffered a series of setbacks even before the Court ruled that he had overstepped his powers, as customs duties are a tax that only Congress is authorised to levy. Inflation had been fuelling social discontent for several months already. The savagery of the hunt for immigrants was shocking even to Trump supporters. The Epstein files did not help matters, and then there were the international failures in Ukraine, Greenland and now Iran, where the president must choose between the unpopularity of intervention and the humiliation of retreat.
Down in the polls and now disavowed by the guardians of the Constitution, Donald Trump is set to lose the midterm elections in November, but it could just as easily be argued that his weakening position poses serious dangers.
‘A disgrace!’ he exclaimed upon learning of the Court’s decision. ‘Ridiculous,’ ‘deeply disappointing,’ he added, before going so far as to accuse his country’s highest court of being ‘influenced by foreign interests’ that wield ‘enormous influence’ over it.
The United States and the world have become so accustomed to Donald Trump’s verbal excesses that these words did not really stand out, but they do have meaning. If the Court is under foreign influence, not only can its rulings no longer uphold the law, but its members are guilty of high treason. J.D. Vance did not hesitate to describe the ruling as ‘illegal’, and both the president and his vice-president have thus disqualified the Supreme Court.
Perhaps they will leave it at that, but it is only a short step from there to suspending the Constitution. It is hard to imagine that the United States could go that far. We do not even want to consider it, but upon his return to the White House, one of Donald Trump’s first acts was to pardon the rioters who stormed Congress in 2021. He could not have made it clearer that he did not disavow the perpetrators of this attempted coup; he only regretted that it had failed and would not easily be stripped of an executive power that he wants to be absolute.
To retain the almost full powers that subservient Republican elected officials grant him today, this man would not hesitate to stir up internal tensions, paving the way for a state of emergency or even creating an international crisis that would allow him to call for unity around the flag. Before the Democrats become emboldened and dissent multiplies within the Republican ranks, he will do everything he can to regain control, and not just to maintain his customs duties.
This possibility alone therefore compels us Europeans to accelerate our progress towards a common defence policy in order to show this president, Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world that we are determined to face up to a breakdown of the Atlantic Alliance and any aggression, wherever it may come from.
If Donald Trump and his friends do not choose adventure after all, we will still have begun building the European pillar of an Alliance that we wish to preserve. If, unfortunately, this man plunges the United States into chaos and further destabilises the world, we will at least have closed ranks.
Photo : Trump White House Archived
