In his new work, “Who controls who?”, brilliant, the historian dissects the new global power relations. You notice a “transatlantic schism”, a “change of era” which you say you became aware of in February 2025, notably by attending the speech of J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States, in Munich, very acerbic against European democracy. How would you describe this schism? The transatlantic relationship is multifaceted. Political, commercial, military, cultural… This complexity means that we can’t really talk about a rupture, but rather a schism in terms of values, ideology. There was initially a strategy of prostration by a number of European economic or political actors between the re-election of Donald Trump in November 2024, and the first months of his new administration beginning in early 2025. This almost admiring phase was short-lived: the shift began as early as April 2025, just three months after Donald Trump’s inauguration, with the start of his trade war. This distancing will continue to intensify, with the twelve-day war in Iran, the fact that Donald Trump adopts a Putinian interpretation of the war in Ukraine, the Greenland issue which shows how little he cares about his European allies, the capture of Maduro in Venezuela, a military success but a completely one-sided and outside the law decision, the campaign launched in Iran on February 28… Some analysts think we are too obsessed with Donald Trump and forget to see that he embodies what many Americans think about Europeans… Americans are not monolithic, but the fact is that Donald Trump was elected and re-elected. Americans know very well who they re-elected in 2024. This vote reflects a profound change in trajectory of the United States. Not so much towards isolationism, but towards unilateralism. American authorities tell us: “We are autonomous in terms of energy, we have two oceanic facades, we have the world’s leading economy, the leading manufacturing economy. So, we have the possibility to change the rules of the system.” As for the relationship with Europeans, Trump bluntly asserts what several American presidents have thought for twenty years: you Europeans, do not think enough for your defense and security. He highlights a fundamental contradiction: how is it that 500 million relatively prosperous Europeans still rely on 380 million Americans to face 140 million aging Russians? Donald Trump has been engaging on multiple fronts for a year now, but what political successes has he achieved? His main achievement, at this stage, is to saturate our media agenda. The paradox is that we are in a moment of transatlantic schism in ideological terms, maybe even in theological terms – Donald Trump and J.D. Vance openly attacking the pope – but with a strong media convergence. European and American public spaces are closer than ever. The Epstein case is a striking example. Donald Trump continues to dominate, through his daily statements, this media space, which is less globalized than “transatlantic”… How do you explain his activism on the international stage when during the campaign, he promised to end all foreign wars? He gives the impression of being convinced that he can, through his presumed genius, make peace, even through war. There is another, more structural factor: the extraordinarily powerful American military power. It gives him the ability, for example, to eliminate the supreme leader on the first day of an operation in Iran. Such a tool gives American presidents, not only Trump, the feeling that the use of force allows them to reshape the international scene as they see fit. However, this is not playing out as he imagined, as he does not find a political translation for his military victories… Military gains without a lasting political solution, isn’t this also the problem of Benjamin Netanyahu, in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran? [Read the rest of the article on the Sud Ouest website.]
