“[Make Europe Great Again] does not mean we should emulate President-elect Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement; rather, it highlights the need to recognize the importance of economic and social stability and security to ordinary people.”
In recent weeks, Europe has faced four major events—three of which occurred in the same week—that have unsettled many on the continent: the decisive victory of President-elect Donald J. Trump in the United States, the collapse of Germany’s coalition government, pogrom-like anti-Semitic violence in Amsterdam, and unprecedented flooding in parts of Spain. These events underscore the urgency for Europe to find its bearings on both internal and external affairs, including when it comes to anti-Semitism, radical Islam, and environmental policy. It is time to make Europe great again.
At the European Union summit in Budapest on November 7, 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron articulated the need for such a Make Europe Great Again (MEGA) movement:
“I think that our role here in the European Union is not to comment on the election of Donald Trump, to wonder if it is good or not. He was elected by the American people, and he is going to defend the interests of American people and that is legitimate and that is a good thing. The question is whether we are ready to defend the interests of Europeans.”
It is crucial, however, to contextualize the results of the American presidential election carefully and to draw reasonable conclusions for Europe. Many of Europe’s mainstream media pundits misinterpret President-elect Trump’s widespread appeal and the unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris, revealing not only a somewhat unfavorable view of the American public but also a broader blind spot regarding the interests of ordinary people. The prevailing narrative suggests that only a racist misogynist would have voted for the President-elect and that Vice President Harris’s failure to win is likewise attributed to racism and misogyny.
The reality is that, aside from not being President Trump, being a woman of color was one of the few things Vice President Harris had going for her. However, it was not enough to secure her victory, as many ordinary people—including women and ethnic minorities—have evidently grown weary of identity politics to the point that they would rather vote for a brash billionaire of questionable moral character.
MEGA does not mean we should emulate President-elect Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement; rather, it highlights the need to recognize the importance of economic and social stability and security to ordinary people. This includes a common-sense approach to immigration policy, as mass low-skilled immigration—particularly from countries and regions that do not share European values—can be economically and socially destabilizing. The widespread unease about such developments across Europe is reflected in the soaring electoral success of far-right parties, such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
By failing to address immigration effectively, mainstream center parties have lost credibility in the eyes of many voters, who have been condescendingly labeled as uneducated racists—similar to President Joe Biden’s recent remark calling supporters of President Trump “garbage” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s infamous 2016 “basket of deplorables” comment. This has paved the way for the rise of political figures who should be nowhere near the corridors of power—individuals who see no issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule or who dismiss international law with reckless contempt.
It is crucial for democratic Europe to restore the Enlightenment humanism that made it great in the first place. Our foundational values of liberty, equality, and secularism must be defended against corrosive influences both from within and without. While these values, which arose from a Judeo-Christian moral foundation, imply a duty to help those fleeing war and persecution, they do not condemn us to masochism or surrender. Opposing radical Islam, for instance, is fully in keeping with these values.
As a continent steeped in the blood and ashes of millions of innocent victims murdered in the Holocaust—men, women, and children—we must not tolerate the resurgence of anti-Semitism on our streets following Hamas’s massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023. A veritable “Jew-hunt,” the shocking attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on November 7, 2024—organized and carried out primarily by young Muslim men—evoked haunting memories of the Nazi pogrom against Jews nearly 86 years prior. “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again,” said Dutch King Willem-Alexander the following day. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen denounced the attacks on X, stating, “I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe.”
Yet, as with many leaders across Europe—including in Germany, where I live—who have been taken aback by the torrent of anti-Semitism since October 7th, talk is cheap. Europe cannot truly call itself great until Jews feel safe here again. To this end, we must oppose all forms of anti-Semitism, including Israel-related anti-Semitism in the “progressive” guise of postcolonial anti-Zionism. In this endeavor, the Trump administration might arguably be a better partner than the alternative, especially given his nomination of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Congresswoman Stefanik gained considerable attention in 2023 for exposing college leaders’ hypocrisy regarding campus anti-Semitism.
Transatlantic relations that genuinely benefit Europe will require strong and assertive governments, with Germany—the continent’s largest economy—leading the way. However, Germany’s much-criticized coalition government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, disintegrated on November 7th, leaving the country politically disoriented. Snap elections are scheduled for early 2025. The Scholz cabinet’s track record has been marked by economic decline.
As the catastrophic flooding that devastated parts of Spain in October demonstrated, however, economic growth is not everything. The natural disaster marks the latest in a series of climate-related record-breaking floods in Europe this year, including in my home country of Austria. President-elect Trump has proven himself ecologically illiterate, most recently on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he reiterated his suggestion of raking forest floors to prevent wildfires. Not only does he fail to grasp the importance and fragility of intact ecosystems, but he also cited former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz—who was convicted of making false statements—as a source of information in this context.
In light of climate change, Europe’s greatness will increasingly depend on our ability to improve our relationship with nature. We would be ill-advised to take a page out of President-elect Trump’s playbook on that front. He clearly does not care about the environment. With its new Nature Restoration Law, the European Union now has a powerful tool to undo past environmental wrongs, promote biodiversity, and mitigate natural disasters by harnessing—rather than suppressing—natural processes.
President-elect Trump’s remarkable success and Vice President Harris’s notable failure in the 2024 American presidential election offer valuable lessons for Europe. It is now up to us in the Old World to draw the right conclusions and Make Europe Great Again.
Gerfried Ambrosch is an author and writer and holds a Ph.D. in literary and cultural studies. He can be found on X @g_ambrosch
