Nadtochey Yury Ivanovich – Ph.D. in History, Senior Researcher, INION RAS
The article explores the peculiarities of the perception of the European Union in the current conservative US discourse. The preconditions for the rapid (by historical standards) ideological shift within the Republican Party toward «Trumpism» are examined. The rise of Donald Trump and the growing influence of the supporters of the 45th and 47th president (so called MAGA-Republicans) have brought significant changes to the party’s foreign policy agenda, the basis of which became a policy of selective and limited involvement in international affairs, alongside a reassessment of the value of alliances and allies, particularly in Europe. Relations with traditional partners – NATO and the EU – are increasingly being defined not only by a pragmatic (transactional) approach, but also by new ideological underpinnings that diverge sharply from the previously long-term dominant ideas in US foreign policy, such as Atlanticism, Europeanism, and multilateralism, which emphasized the unity of the Western world. Instead, Trumpism brings new ideas about Western identity based on the similarities and differences in the values of the United States as a «unique nation» and other culturally and racially similar European nations. As a result, the US relationship with the EU as a supranational entity that embraces a globalist and cosmopolitan worldview is becoming increasingly tense and distant. The US Republican Party, once a zealous defender of the interests of the unified West during the Cold War, is becoming a source of growing uncertainty in transatlantic relations.
conservatism, political polarization, European integration, European Union, Atlanticism, Europeanism, multilateralism, Trumpism, identity, MAGA-Republicans.
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