After one of the most difficult years for US-European relations since World War Two, President Donald Trump has claimed that the ‘people of Europe like me’.
It’s a rather hard claim to find evidence for in the year since the Trump administration took office, which kicked off its cross-Atlantic diplomacy in February 2025 with Vice President JD Vance telling the Munich Security Conference that the greatest threat facing Europe was not Russia but the ‘threat from within’.
He also took the unprecedented step of blasting a number of key NATO allies, including the US’ closest ally, the UK, on culture war issues, arguing that the liberal democracies on the continent faced ‘civilizational erasure’ in the face of immigration.
Wuthering Heights trailer
If this early moment in Trump’s second term went down like a lead balloon, the president’s repeated threats to take the European territory of Greenland by military force or economic coercion were like dropping an Atomic bomb on the post-war order, leaving EU nations looking elsewhere for security guarantees.This shift in global allegiances has not been lost on Trump, who has repeatedly and successfully threatened the sanctity of NATO to force its European counterparts to increase their contribution to the military alliance.
At a White House event on Wednesday (February 11), the president signed an executive order telling the Department of Defense to prioritize purchasing electricity from coal-fired power plants.
In a show of deference and fealty now a regular feature of Oval Office events, Trump was awarded the title of ‘Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal’ at the meeting, where he also blasted his European allies for investing in renewable energy.
Ridiculing the use of wind turbines across Europe, where each 300ft turbine is capable of powering up to 1,500 homes and wind power accounts for up to one-third of total energy production, the president claimed ‘every time [a wind turbine] goes around it loses a fortune’.Unlike the architectural magnificence of a coal-fired power plant, or the tranquil beauty of an area where surface mined coal has stripped huge areas of the landscape, Trump claimed that wind turbines had ruined the ancient beauty of Europe.
He said: « And you know, I was recently there and it’s not recognizable what they’ve done to their beautiful fields and those beautiful, beautiful scenic areas and they put those wind turbines all over the place and they’re chugging, chugging, chugging, not doing a damn thing. »
While he slammed decades of European policy making in the face of climate change, Trump claimed the continent’s people agree with him.
« But you know who likes me over there? The people like me over there. I can tell you because they know I’m right, » he added.
But someone should have told the people of Europe that, as a January YouGov poll showed fewer than 19 percent of people in UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, sharing favorable views of the American president.
For the people of Denmark, this number was even lower. Just four percent expressed support for Trump, which is unsurprising after he threatened to take the country’s Greenland territory by force.
Vladimir Putin has spoken out about Russia’s alleged plans to attack Europe as World War III fears intensify.
The fear of all-out war has been escalating in recent months, from tensions in the Middle East boiling over between Iran and Israel to Russia’s ongoing occupation of Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s failing attempts to calm the storm.
While Putin and Trump came face-to-face only recently in a historic meeting, a ceasefire of any kind seems far from the realms of possibility and the POTUS isn’t exactly on the best of terms with Moscow’s leaders, having embroiled in a war of words online with the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, which ultimately saw US forces deploy nuclear submarines.
Now, Putin is currently enjoying himself at a military parade in Beijing, China, following a warm welcome from XI Jinping, who referred to him as an ‘old friend’ – a nod of respect that probably won’t extend to Trump anytime soon amid his trade war and tariff plan for China.Putin also praised relations with China, stating their ties are at an ‘unprecedentedly high level.’ As a result, European nations have since been concerned that a Russian attack on the continent could be imminent.
Hospitals across France were reportedly instructed to brace for a possible ‘major military deployment’ by March 2026, while Germany said it is on alert for military drills just yesterday.
However, Putin has waved away the concerns, speaking alongside the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, who claims that claims of an attack from Moscow on Europe were a ‘provocation or incompetence’.
The Russian leader also said that it was ‘absolute nonsense’ that there were plans to strike deeper in Europe and to target NATO, slamming the response from the EU as ‘hysteria’ based on ‘horror stories.’
« As for ‘Russia’s aggressive plans with respect to Europe’, I want to emphasise once again that this is complete nonsense, which has absolutely no basis, » he said. »Any sensible person realises that Russia has never had, does not have, and will not have the desire to attack anyone. »
The supposed reassurance comes as the French government reportedly predicts a situation where the nation could face an influx of wounded soldiers.
However, the French Health Minister, Catherine Vautrin, said the precautions are ‘perfectly normal for the country to anticipate crises and their consequences’, citing the Covid-19 pandemic as an example.
Germany’s Chief of Defence, Carsten Breuer, also stated that NATO and his country’s forces are on alert ahead of Russia’s upcoming military drills.
Although Brueuer said he doesn’t anticipate Putin would attack NATO territory, as Russia has a military training base in Belarus, Germany would ‘be on guard.’
JD Vance has sparked concern after giving an undeniably ‘strange’ response about Donald Trump’s health.
People have been worried about the president of late after he was spotted with a ‘large bruise’ on his hand, which his team recently attempted to cover up with what appeared to be copious amounts of foundation.
As well as this, earlier in the summer Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a condition that occurs when your leg veins become damaged and can’t work as they should.
The diagnosis came around the time the president celebrated his 79th birthday in June. Trump was the oldest person to be inaugurated as president in January at the age of 78.
With all these factors in mind, his vice president, JD Vance, was quizzed about Trump’s health and if he would be prepared to step up if needed.
JD Vance has been quizzed about the president’s health and future (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
JD Vance has been quizzed about the president’s health and future (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
« I’ve had a lot of on-the-job training in the last 200 days, but the president is in incredibly good health. He’s got incredible energy, » Vance, 41, told USA Today.
« While most of the people who work around the president of the United States are younger than he is, I think that we find that he’s actually the last person to go to sleep, he’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up and is the first person making phone calls in the morning. »
Vance did note that ‘terrible tragedies happen’, but he feels ‘very confident that [Trump] is in good shape’ and that he will serve the remainder of his term as president.
He added: « If God forbid there is a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten in the last 200 days. »
People have since reacted to Vance’s comments and hailed them as ‘strange’.
One person said: « Strange thing to say as the person who is VP, no? »
A second suggested that Vance was ‘foreshadowing’ and that his reply was ‘ominous’.
Somebody else wrote on Twitter: « What an incredibly odd thing to say. »
Another noted: « Interesting choice of words – the phrasing feels a bit ominous, but it’s standard VP talk about succession readiness. »
« Why are they laying down that kind of groundwork, » questioned a different social media user regarding the reporter’s line of questioning.
White House physician Sean Barbabella previously described Trump as being in ‘good health’ and said that he’s ‘fully fit to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief’.
Americans have shared their thoughts on if Donald Trump should run for office again.
While it’s currently impossible for someone to run for office for a third term, Trump has been teasing the idea ever since he became president again in January.
As it stands, America’s 22nd Amendment prohibits someone from running for more than two terms in office; but US Representative Andy Ogles wants this changed.
Instead, Ogles has suggested that the law reads: « No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. »
Basically, because there was a gap between Trump’s first and second presidency, he should be able to run again for a second consecutive term.
While the likes of Trump and Ogles wants the POTUS to remain in office until 2032, it’s been unclear if US citizens want this to happen.
This has since changed though in the wake of Trump’s latest approval ratings being published.
According to Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of poll participants approve of Trump’s performance in office so far, down seven percent compared to February figures.
Wednesday (April 30) will mark Trump’s 100th day as president.People were also asked for their thoughts on the POTUS’ controversial tariff hikes that’s caused chaos in the global stock market in recent weeks, with 59 percent disapproving on the increases.
In a separate poll by Reuters and Ipsos, respondents were asked if Trump should or shouldn’t run for a third term.
« Three-quarters of respondents said Trump should not run for a third term in office — a path Trump has said he would like to pursue, though the U.S. Constitution bars him from doing so, » Reuters revealed.
« A majority of Republican respondents — 53% — said Trump should not seek a third term, » it added.
While it seems Trump and some of his closest allies are keen for him to run for president again, the same can’t be said for the rest of America…
Taking over Greenland could end up costing America more than just its reputation on the world stage, academics and former administration officials have warned, after they added up the gargantuan cost of annexation.
Trump’s efforts to acquire the vast ice-capped island showed no sign of stopping this week, despite officials from Denmark and Greenland met with Vice President JD Vance to reassert the territory’s independence from US interests.
The meeting ended with both sides continuing to have ‘fundamental disagreements’ over the future of Greenland, which has belonged to Denmark for over 300 years and has just 56,000 citizens.
European allies have even started deploying small military detachments to the Arctic territory amid the threats from their NATO ally, a move that caused President Trump to fire back that ‘there’s not a thing’ they can do to stop him and he will take it ‘one way or the other’.
While the administration has cited ‘national security’ and Russia’s presence in the Arctic Circle as the main reason to acquire the world’s largest island as US territory, this week, the true cost of invasion was revealed to NBC News.
They estimated it would cost as much as $700bn to annex the 800,000 square-mile island, while carrying out hypothetical modeling of an American takeover for the White House. This is more than half the annual budget of the Department of Defense.
“Greenland does not want to be owned by, governed by or part of the United States,” the territory’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt said as they arrived in Washington on Wednesday for the failed talks, where both sides ‘agreed to disagree’.
“We choose the Greenland we know today — as part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
But officials believe the landmass is key to America’s future strategic interests, as Greenland occupies a key area of the Arctic which climate change has made an increasingly accessible region for Russian assets.
With President Trump keen to reshape America’s geopolitical positioning and projection of power around the world, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that acquiring Greenland is a ‘high priority’ for his second term.
However, a US official speaking anonymously to NBC has questioned the strategic justification of conquering Greenland, which has had an agreement with the US to allow for an escalation of military assets on the island since the Cold War.
Currently, there is just one large US base on the northwest end of Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, which used to be called Thule Air Base and forms a key part of North America’s early warning system for intercontinental ballistic missiles
As American troops are already treading Greenland’s ice and treaties already allow for a military build-up, the official asked: “Why invade the cow when they’ll sell you the milk at relatively good prices?”
