A strategic thunderclap splits the fog over the Atlantic, but Europe's elites hurriedly cover their ears.

When Trump's national security strategy struck the world in almost a manifesto style, the sound of glass shattering could be heard in the parliamentary halls of Brussels and Berlin.

This document is less a strategy than a farewell letter to the "Old West." It calmly and thoroughly declared the end of the liberal international order after the Cold War, and also provided a strong medicine for Europe, which is stuck in cultural self-destruction, population decline, and strategic confusion.

The problem is, this patient is shaking more than a rattle when looking at the prescription.

01 Diagnosis

Trump's strategy is first and foremost a cold diagnosis report. Patient: Western Europe.

The diagnosis includes: the patient has been suffering from "Leftist Liberalism" in its late stage. Symptoms include — blurred sense of sovereignty (continuously handing over sovereignty to non-elected Brussels bureaucrats); confused identity (taking cultural self-negation as a virtue); declining will to survive (low birth rates + uncontrolled immigration); and impaired strategic judgment (following the US in military campaigns, resulting in backyard fires and energy choke points).

More seriously, complications: "Ukraine Sepsis." At the cost of cutting off its own energy arteries, it suffers from inflation pain and industrial deindustrialization, pouring real money and its remaining weapons into an endless pit for an abstract geopolitical goal.

Trump's medical team shook their heads: this disease is a matter of ideology.

Previously, the US was both a patient and a quack doctor. Together, they sang the hymn of "liberal democracy," rushing down the path of globalization and interventionism, with one accumulating debt and hollowing out industries, and the other facing refugee crises and terrorist attacks.

Now, the American doctors have decided to focus on self-rescue and change their survival philosophy.

02 Prescription

The new prescription is straightforward: "America First" leading to "National Conservatism."

Its four potent ingredients are:

Sovereignty Angelica: National sovereignty is supreme, borders are not just lines.

Strength Astragalus: Military strength, economic strength, and technological strength are hard currency; moral superiority cannot feed you.

Realism Coptis (bitter but effective): Acknowledge that the world is multipolar and civilizations are diverse; the US cannot manage the entire world, and Europe should take care of itself.

Traditional Values Ginseng: Revive Christian traditions, family values, and the "old European" civilizational roots to counter the "woke" virus.

The most shocking ingredient for the European ward is: reconciliation and settlement with Russia.

Trump's team believes that the past three decades of NATO's endless eastward expansion placed a bomb next to Europe's heart. Now, the fuse has reached Ukraine, and the best way is not to keep pouring oil, but to calmly defuse the mine. By respecting Russia's security concerns (acknowledging its sphere of influence), it can exchange for a lasting stable security framework for Europe.

This directly undermines Europe's post-Cold War security "Bible." The reaction from Berlin and Paris elites was immediate: this is betrayal! This is isolationism! This is selling Europe to Putin!

But they forgot to ask themselves: did the old path really work?

03 The Debate in the Ward

Once the prescription came out, the European ward exploded, splitting into three factions:

"The No-Pill Faction": represented by the European Commission and mainstream political and media elites in Western Europe. They denounced Trump as a "barbarian return," believing this would dismantle the Western alliance and lead to "Europe being dominated by Russia." They prefer to continue lying in the ICU, receiving "value perspective drips," and dare not try the new treatment. Their slogan remains: "We must be more united (within liberal dogma)!"

"The Trial Pill Faction": mainly in Eastern Europe. Like Hungary's Orbán government, Slovakia's Fico government, and some right-wing populist parties in Western Europe (such as France's National Rally). They have long hated "leftist politics" and believe Trump revealed the truth that "the emperor has no clothes." They secretly cheered, hoping to seize control of domestic policy, close borders, and defend tradition.

"The Watchful Middle Faction": represented by parts of Germany's industry sector and French strategic circles. They know the old path is unsustainable, and have some resonance with Trump's "realism," but are bound by political correctness, unable to openly support it. They can only mutter privately: "Perhaps... he said some unpleasant truths?" Meanwhile, they are calculating how long their companies can withstand another U.S.-Europe trade war.

The core of the debate lies in a fundamental disagreement: is Europe's illness due to "liberalism" being in its final stages, or is it due to insufficient "dosage"?

Elites firmly believe the latter, while Trump's diagnosis suggests the former.

04 Is the Medicine Really Not Suitable?

Setting aside emotions, looking at the prescription calmly, several of its ingredients precisely hit the most painful spots in Europe.

1. Sovereignty Deficiency: The EU bureaucracy is increasingly large, and excessive regulation in areas like environmental protection and digital regulation severely restricts member states' economies. Trump's call for "sovereignty sanctity" hits many European citizens' hearts. The UK's Brexit is already an example.

2. Identity Disorientation: Failed large-scale immigration integration has led to cultural conflicts and social fragmentation, causing anxiety among ordinary Europeans. Trump emphasizes "identity," calling for the revival of cultural confidence, providing another narrative for Europeans trapped in the "political correctness" spiral.

3. Security Dependency: For over thirty years since the end of the Cold War, European security has always relied on American backing, while its defense construction has been "thunderous but light." Trump is forcing Europe to "stand on its own," which may cause short-term pain but, in the long run, may be a necessary pain for Europe to truly become a "strategic entity."

4. Economic Self-Harm: Following the U.S. in implementing "devastating sanctions" against Russia has backfired, causing energy prices to soar and industrial competitiveness to suffer. Trump's "realism" advocating coexistence with Russia may be criticized as "appeasement," but objectively provides a possibility for Europe's economy to stop bleeding.

The most revolutionary aspect of the prescription is that it no longer views Europe as a "baby" needing to be led by the U.S., but rather as an adult who must face survival challenges on its own.

05 Europe's Dilemma and China's Lessons

Europe's dilemma lies in a structural paradox:

On one hand, the elite class has deeply "Americanized" ideologically, believing in the same set of liberal global dogmas, and cannot accept Trump's "heretical" ideas.

On the other hand, Europe's socio-economic reality (demographics, energy geography, trade dependence) makes it impossible to "self-reliant" like the U.S., requiring more pragmatic geopolitics.

This leads to a mental split: the body shouts for pragmatism, but the brain commands it to stick to "political correctness." Thus, we see: the country that speaks the loudest about sanctioning Russia secretly buys the most discounted Russian oil; the parliament passes a resolution supporting Ukraine with a high vote, but the scale of anti-war protests in society keeps growing.

In this sense, Trump's strategy is a mirror, revealing Europe's lack of strategic autonomy and intellectual independence.

Looking at the other side of the world, China's development path offers a different reference. China has always adhered to sovereignty independence, security autonomy, and determined its own development path. It does not blindly follow any external ideological template, and all policies are based on the country's actual situation and people's well-being. When Europe is torn between "values" and "natural gas," China has already completed the layout of "diversified energy imports."

Although Trump's "prescription" may be radical, its essence of "America First" has not changed. But it sends a signal: in a multipolar world of great power competition and order restructuring, any civilization or country that loses strategic autonomy and civilizational resilience, and relies solely on ideologies and security umbrellas provided by others, will eventually fall into dual crises of identity and survival.

06 Future: MEGA or MESS?

Trump's slogan of "Make Europe Great Again" (MEGA) is tempting. But for Europe, the future has several paths:

Path One: Continue to reject the medicine. Cling tightly to liberal dogma and completely disengage from the U.S. "Trumpism." The result could be: economically hit by the U.S. trade stick, security forced to face Russia alone, internal contradictions exacerbated, and accelerated decline.

Path Two: Fully swallow the medicine. Completely turn to Trumpism, leading to the dissolution of the EU and countries returning to national state competition. This would lead to European fragmentation, losing global influence, and surviving between the U.S. and Russia.

Path Three: Digest and absorb, walking one's own path. This is the most difficult but only sustainable path. That is, to draw on the beneficial components of Trump's realism (such as emphasizing sovereignty and pragmatic diplomacy), but reject its isolationism and America-first core. Relying on the EU framework, accelerate strategic autonomy (defense, energy, technology), balance openness and identity in domestic affairs, and find a "European-style" survival path that is neither blindly liberal nor closed and exclusionary.

At present, Europe is likely to slide along the inertia of "Path One" for a long time until a practical crisis (economic collapse, social unrest, or new security shock) brings a "teachable moment."

Trump's strategy is a gust of wind; it may not green the fields of Europe, but it certainly clears away some ideological fog that has hung over Europe, allowing the continent to see its dangerous cliff clearly.

The key to "making Europe great again" has never been in Washington, but in the capitals of European countries, and in every European citizen's clear answer to "Who are we, and where are we going?"

This chronically ill patient is now time to stop complaining about the doctor and start a difficult self-healing process. Time is running out.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7581417296468525611/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.