A Short Note to Caroline de Gruyter

A Shirt Note to Caroline de Gruyter

✍️ Author’s Note

This reflection responds to Caroline de Gruyter todays essay in NRC “Trump is Putin’s ideal prey ” (“Trump is Poetins ideale prooi.” ) While I share her view that Europe feels pushed aside. But this is no sudden shift; it is the long-overdue end of a comforting illusion. For decades, Europe acted as if the White House cared deeply about its counsel. In reality, Washington listened politely and then followed its own path. The real tragedy is that Europe still clings to the fantasy that it had influence to lose.

Writing in NRC this morning Caroline de Gruyter is right that Europe feels sidelined.
But this isn’t a sudden humiliation — it’s the belated discovery of a very old truth.

For decades, Europe lived on Fantasy Island, convinced that Washington valued its wisdom.
The ritual was always the same: Europe spoke, the White House listened politely, and America proceeded with the plan it had already made. From Bush to Obama, from Biden to Trump — different styles, same hierarchy.

The tragedy is not that Europe lost its voice.
The tragedy is that Europe still believes it ever had one.

Today we complain that the U.S. negotiates without us.
But why the surprise? Washington listens to hard power, industrial capacity, LNG terminals, and voters in Wisconsin — not to European communiqués about values.

We still pretend the “artist in the White House” — whichever painter happens to be there — will finally listen this time.
He won’t.
Not out of malice, but because European views no longer register in the strategic calculus of the 21st century.

If Europe wants a voice, it must stop waiting for respect and start behaving like an adult power.

William J J Houtzager, Aka WJJH, November 2025

📌Blog Excerpt

NRC’s Caroline de Gruyter is right that Europe feels sidelined — but this is not new. For decades, the U.S. politely listened and then did whatever it had already decided. The real tragedy is not that Europe lost its voice, but that it still believes it ever had one.