American politics has not witnessed such wavering positions and strange contradictions as those exhibited by President Donald Trump since he arrived at the White House, especially in his second term. This American presidential behavior puts U.S. allies in an awkward position, sometimes forcing them to break their silence and express their disappointment with their larger partner, even opposing American policy. Trump's issues with America's allies began with the stance on NATO, the Ukraine war, the war in the Gulf, and the economic crisis in Europe due to this war, as well as due to other economic measures. Most recently, he has made an unprecedented and overt intervention in the Israeli elections in favor of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since entering the White House, President Trump has forced Europe to bear additional costs in financing NATO, compelling European partners to allocate 5% of their budgets for defense spending. He reduced military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, placing the cost of weapons that the United States provides to Ukraine on Europeans. He sold Europeans oil and gas at very high prices after they stopped purchasing inexpensive Russian petroleum and gas products. Trump also imposed additional tariffs on Europe after changing U.S. policy toward most countries around the world that have trade relations with America. This applies to major U.S. partners outside Europe.
The biggest shock that Trump recently caused for Europeans was agreeing with Russia to purchase Russian diesel. The deal between President Vladimir Putin and Trump was a severe blow to European efforts to contain Russia and damage its economy, coming at a time when Europe was preparing a new package of sanctions against Russia, especially after Europe had provided support to Kyiv and encouraged it to strike energy facilities in Russia to create major problems for President Putin inside Russia.
Now, there is indeed a significant contradiction between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump regarding the deal with Russia and the demand for Zelensky to stop targeting oil refineries and energy facilities in Russia. After Trump announced a Ukrainian-Russian agreement to cease strikes on energy stations and their infrastructure without Zelensky's knowledge, the latter continued to ignore this agreement, in which he was not a party. Consequently, the U.S. halted technical support provided to Ukraine from Elon Musk's Starlink, which had been helping Ukraine respond to Russian drones and missiles to some extent. The tension between Zelensky and Trump escalated to the point where the former accused Trump of betraying Ukraine, despite the latter denying any change in technical support for Ukraine.
Europe now holds Trump responsible for the disturbances it is experiencing due to the high cost of living. European criticism of Trump intensified due to the ongoing Iran war, which has caused rising fuel prices and a higher cost of living in Europe and the world. Many European leaders consider this war illegitimate and view it as an entrapment by Israel for Trump, who cannot retract because he has not achieved the objectives he announced. They see the continuation of the war as a significant loss that places the economic repercussions on the entire world, especially Europe, which is already suffering from an economic strain because of the costs of the Ukrainian-Russian war.
Perhaps the most notable example of the accusations thrown at Trump came from French President Emmanuel Macron, who explicitly accused Trump of causing the cost of living crisis and disturbances in France and Europe. Trump, in turn, held France responsible for its current situation, attributing it to open-door immigration policies.
In a first in U.S.-Israeli relations, Trump publicly announced his full support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take office, justifying that Netanyahu's electoral defeat would force America to carry out its mission against Iran alone, which he opposes. Israeli sources state that there was significant pressure on Trump to support Netanyahu, who is faltering and on the brink of falling. Trump's position met with strong opposition in Israel as it was seen as blatant interference in elections that are an internal Israeli matter. Trump's stance changed from declaring that he does not trust anyone, especially Netanyahu, with whom he disagreed over the Gaza plan and even the management of the war with Iran.
Trump's endorsement of Netanyahu is not expected to change the electoral equation in Israel. Some believe that if Netanyahu benefits from this support, it could increase the seats of the Likud party within Netanyahu's camp at the expense of coalition parties. Others believe this could harm Netanyahu, revealing his inadequacy and failure, and dependence on external parties in a purely internal issue. Polls conducted after the announcement of Trump's support for Netanyahu showed no significant change in the distribution of seats between the governing coalition and the opposition. The opinion polls conducted after Trump's announcement showed that things remained the same, with polls from Israeli TV channels 12 and 13 conducted last Monday indicating that Eizenkot still surpasses Netanyahu, and the opposition leads by a small margin over the ruling coalition (55 seats to 51, and 51 seats to 50) respectively. The question remains: what will Trump do with Netanyahu after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's secret visit to Israel last Monday and his meeting with Netanyahu?