What Trump’s security doctrine really means for Germany

Dear Reader,

Two developments from across the Pond have triggered outrage inside the German political establishment — and sharpened fears that Washington is no longer merely drifting away from Europe, but actively working against it.

The first was the publication of the Trump administration’s new national security strategy. The document goes far beyond the familiar complaints about European free-riding and defence spending. Instead, it openly signals an intention to interfere in the internal politics of allied states.

According to the strategy, future US policy will aim to “cultivate resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.” What that resistance might look like is spelled out only a few paragraphs earlier, where the paper expresses optimism about “the growing influence of patriotic European parties.”

The second provocation followed days later. A delegation of around 20 AfD politicians travelled to New York at the invitation of the city’s Young Republican Club. At…