𝐕𝐃𝐇: 𝐄𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄’𝐒 𝟓𝟎𝟎-𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓’𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘’𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏’𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐒

Historian 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 (@VDHanson) says Europe’s fury at President Trump isn’t really about tariffs — it’s about five centuries of relevance quietly running out.

“𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺.” Hanson said, pointing to reports that EU leaders voiced extreme anger at Trump during a recent winter summit.

Hanson notes what the complaints conveniently leave out: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴.” He also defended Trump’s bombastic talk of annexing Greenland, arguing the president “𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵” about the island’s strategic value in North America.

But Hanson’s real argument runs deeper than any single policy fight. For 500 years, he says, Europe 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 — “𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.” Now, by his account, some 𝟑𝟒𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 produce roughly $𝟏𝟎 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 in GDP than a European Union many times its population.

𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞.

8:31 PM · Jul 11, 2026

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