THE MORNING RANT: A Friday Laugh at European Leaders’ Proclaimed Self Reliance

Following the dust-up when President Trump and Vice President Vance slapped down Volodymyr Zelenskyy for coming into the White House to publicly renege on the agreement that was being formalized, and then demanding even more from the US, European leaders comically asserted that they would stand together and go it alone without the United States.

“The Latest: Britain’s Starmer says Europe must take responsibility for defending itself” [AP – 3/02/2025]

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Europe must take responsibility for defending itself as world leaders met in London to discuss working together to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine. Britain hosted the summit Sunday to shore up support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after an astonishing Oval Office meltdown with President Donald Trump that left many uncertain where the once staunch allies stood.

The prospect of not having to subsidize and provide virtually all the defense for our parasitic “allies” caused Americans to enthusiastically embrace Europe’s response. It was one of those “Your terms are acceptable moments.” Of course, we all know that Europe’s ability to provide for its own defense is as laughable as a little boy asserting his independence by running away from home with his belongings tied up in a bindle.

The sad truth, in my opinion, is that Europeans could not take up arms to defend themselves if they had to, nor would they.

It's Friday, so I thought we might out to have a little fun coming up with funny analogs to Europe asserting its self-reliance. Here are three I’ve thought of. I welcome your additional suggestions.

1) Arthur (Dudley Moore) getting cut off from his allowance and coming up with a solution – he’d get a job. At the 1:00 minute mark of this video he brashly (and drunkenly) proclaims, “I’ll get a job! That’s what I’ll do. I’ll get a job. I’ll work! This is going to be great.”

2) David Hogg announcing he was going to start his own pillow company to compete with My Pillow.

“David Hogg Launching Pillow Company to Put ‘My Pillow’ Out of Business” [NBC – 02/04/2021]

3) ANTIFA declaring its Seattle “CHAZ” encampment as being a sovereign country, and then launching its agriculture program by laying down some cardboard, spreading some dirt on it, and then throwing some vegetable seeds on it.

“In Seattle’s CHAZ, a community garden takes root” [Cascade PBS – 6/15/2020]

On a more serious note, Europeans cannot defend themselves because they have established a pervasive culture of self-loathing. As Rod Dreher notes, ”How is an establishment that teaches Britons to hate their own land going to convince them to sacrifice for Ukrainian nationalism?”

John Hayward (Doctor Zero) offers up an interesting angle to that issue, pointing out that no respectable European takes pride in his own country, so he embraces the flag and nationalism outside his country’s borders. Hayward wrote, ”There is an element among European center-left support for Ukraine that reeks of displaced nationalism. They know their own countries are gone, so they are looking for a flag to wave and a slogan to chant, like sports fans seeking spiritual fulfillment from their fandom.”

For those whose “displaced nationalism” leads them to publicly – and sanctimoniously - pledge allegiance to Ukraine, while not actually offering themselves up to fight and die for the country to which they’ve transferred their patriotic allegiance, Walter Kirn offered up this biting comment, “I have searched, but I have yet to find a scripture or great work of literature in which cheering and funding war from a safe distance is held out as a virtue.”

I’d wish “Godspeed” to Europe as they try to forge ahead, independent of the United States, but Europe has rejected God. Good luck, I guess.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments