Transatlantic Tensions

King Charles III is on a state visit to the U.S. this week, and on today's edition of The Editors, Charlie Cooke looks at the strained relations between transatlantic allies.

"The British and the Europeans are not powerful," says Charlie. "They are increasingly poor. They don't produce much that is innovative. And the United States is powerful, is rich, and does produce much that is innovative. And it also has an enormous military on which the Europeans rely."

Charlie suspects "that the moment that the United States has a president that is more palatable, all of the supposed damage that has been done will go away. . . . If you look at the trend lines, they always jump up whenever a Democrat is elected."

"I know people love to insist that Trump is different, and he is," says Charlie, "but the reaction to Trump in Europe and on the American left is right in many areas by accident. That is to say, the Europeans and the American left say the same thing about every Republican president. It's just that this time they happen to be right sometimes."

European and British dislike of Reagan and Bush was evident, says Charlie, "and yet when Clinton came in, [approval] bounced back. And when Obama came in, well, it was something bordering on hero worship. And when Biden came in, it bounced back. So I'm extremely skeptical that, irrespective of the merits of his actions, anything Trump has done has permanently damaged the relationship between the United States and Western Europe, because it can't."

"Even in Britain, the approval of the United States and Trump is not too bad. And I'm absolutely sure that if Gavin Newsom waltzes his way into the White House in 2029, it will jump straight back up."

The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.