US voters may have just saved the West

Trump’s victory means other Western leaders will wake from their stupor and finally pay their way

Donald Trump’s resounding victory in the US presidential election may be about to herald what he calls “a golden age” for the American people. But it could also have the added bonus of, directly and indirectly, reviving the wider fortunes of the Western alliance at a time when the global threat environment has never been more challenging.
From Russia to Iran, from China to North Korea, Trump’s remarkable comeback will force the world’s despots to have a major rethink about their various efforts to undermine the West and its allies.
For it will also oblige Western leaders, particularly in Europe, to take seriously their responsibilities to protect their interests, rather than always assuming they can rely on Washington’s military might to bail them out in times of trouble.
The Ukraine conflict is a case in point. Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 has caused the biggest conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War. But, while European leaders have been vocal in denouncing Putin’s unprovoked act of aggression, their contribution to Ukraine’s war effort has been decidedly modest compared with the support Kyiv has received from the US.
While America has provided more than $100 billion in aid to Ukraine since the conflict began, the total amount of support provided by leading European powers such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy amounts to less than half of that figure.
Little wonder, then, that Trump spent most of the election campaign complaining about the high cost Washington was paying for sustaining Ukraine’s war effort. As Trump grumbled back in April after the US congress had approved yet another aid package for Ukraine, “Why isn’t Europe giving more money to help Ukraine? Why is it that the United States is over $100 billion into the Ukraine War more than Europe, and we have an ocean between us as separation!”
Trump’s gripe that the Europeans are failing to pay their fair share towards their defence became a familiar refrain during his first spell in the White House, when he publicly rebuked the likes of then German chancellor Angela Merkel for the paucity of their Nato spending.
It is a topic Trump will undoubtedly return to in his second term, especially as China, not Europe, is likely to be his administration’s number one security priority.
Trump’s claim that he intends to end the Ukraine conflict “in a day” therefore needs to be seen within the context of his frustration that the US once again finds itself bearing the cost of a major war compared with the modest contribution of its European allies.
If European leaders like Sir Keir Starmer, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron really are – as they keep claiming – committed to Ukraine achieving victory over Russia, then they need to do a great deal more about investing in the defence of Europe than always relying on the US to pick up the lion’s share of the burden.
European parsimony explains why Trump is so keen to bring hostilities to an end in Ukraine. Apart from saving American taxpayers billions of dollars, Trump believes there is no point continuing the conflict if Europe is either unwilling or incapable to provide the Ukrainians with the support they need to achieve victory. A peace deal that denies Putin the total conquest of Ukraine he sought at the start of the conflict will also demonstrate the limits of Russian power. And it could deter other hostile regimes, such as China and North Korea, from indulging in similar acts of mindless aggression.
Certainly, if Trump’s return to the White House does not have the desired effect of shaking European leaders out of their complacent mindset, then nothing will. 
Apart from waking the Europeans from their torpor on defence issues, Trump 2.0 is also likely to have a profound impact on other key global issues, such as the Middle East, where the Biden administration’s insistence on taking a more accommodating approach to Iran has simply resulted in Tehran’s powerful network of terrorist groups setting the region ablaze.
Taking a hard line on Tehran was one of the more successful policies adopted by the first Trump administration. By withdrawing from the flawed nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama, and imposing hard-hitting economic sanctions against Tehran, Trump forced the ayatollahs back on to the defensive, limiting their ability to cause mayhem.
Instead of constantly criticising Israel over its response to the October 7 attacks carried out by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists, which has been the Biden administration’s preferred approach to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, Trump will focus on limiting Iran’s ability to destabilise the region.
This could include building on the success achieved by the Abraham Accords signed in the final days of his previous presidency, which resulted in several moderate Arab regimes normalising relations with Israel.
At a time when the world is riven with conflict, there is every possibility that Trump’s return to the White House could ultimately lead to the world becoming more secure and stable.