“Post-war Europe is essentially an American protectorate. Europeans don’t like to admit that. They only came to realize just how dependent they were on the United States in 2025, when Trump basically leveraged US security and forced Europe into a very disadvantageous trade deal.” — Glyn Morgan
Post Second World War Europe was always an American project. At least according to The Rise and Fall of American Europe by Glyn Morgan, the Director of the Moynihan Center of European Studies at Syracuse University and a proud Welshman. All that post-war civilizational jazz — the Marshall Plan, NATO, the EU — weren’t really European achievements. Instead, they were American-designed ideas and institutions that proud Europeans boasted they had built themselves. For Morgan, post-war Europe was, in fact, little more than a US protectorate. Gaul colonized by Rome. Wales as a backwater of Great Britain.
Europeans only discovered this unpalatable truth in 2025, when Trump leveraged their security dependence to force a ruinous trade deal. JD Vance made the official press announcement at the Munich Security Conference. Today’s crisis of NATO is its obit.
The original architects of American Europe were deeply Europeanized Americans — Bill Bullitt, who loved France; George Kennan, who spoke better German than most Germans; Ivy League Libs who cherished Europe as a café-rich sibling of New York City. That imaginary continent lasted eighty years. Morgan defines its MAGA replacement as “civilizational America.” It’s a United States that sees itself as a distinct civilization with distinct interests, willing to transact with Russia and China and leave an increasingly marginalized Europe to fend for itself.
Wales is the future of Europe, Morgan says. The Welsh lost the Darwinian struggle for world power very early — conquered, then absorbed and shrunken into a rainy museum for English romantics. Sheep, rugby and singing ex-miners. That’s the fate of 21st century Europe. Bon Voyage. And don’t forget your umbrella.
Five Takeaways
• American Europe Was a US Protectorate. The Marshall Plan, NATO, the EU — American-designed institutions Europeans moved into and pretended they’d built. Post-war Europe was a US protectorate. Trump’s 2025 trade deal revealed the truth they’d been avoiding for eighty years.
• The Architects. Bill Bullitt loved France. Kennan spoke better German than most Germans. Roosevelt Democrats who saw Europe and America as one civilization. They broke with Roosevelt over the Soviets. A strong democratic Europe as a bulwark against communism was the founding logic.
• Civilizational America. What replaces American Europe: a US that sees itself as a distinct civilization, willing to transact with Russia and China and leave Europe to fend for itself. Vance’s Munich speech was the announcement. NATO’s crisis is the obit.
• Putin and Trump: Same Playbook. Putin wants a Europe of nation states he can play off against each other. Trump does too. The beneficiary is China. A Chinese Europe in fifty years is not inconceivable.
• Wales Is the Future. Wales lost the struggle for world power early — conquered, absorbed, made picturesque. A rainy museum. Sheep, rugby, singing ex-miners. That’s the fate of Europe. Bon Voyage. Don’t forget your umbrella.
About the Guest
Glyn Morgan is Director of the Moynihan Center of European Studies at Syracuse University and the author of The Rise and Fall of American Europe (Polity, August 2026).
References
The Rise and Fall of American Europe by Glyn Morgan (Polity, August 2026)
Chapters:
00:00:51 Introduction: American Europe vs. civilizational America
00:02:23 What is American Europe? The four tiers: NATO, EU, nation state, enlargement
00:04:26 Vance at Munich: the symbolic pivot
00:06:10 Bullitt, Kennan, and the Europeanized American architects
00:07:10 Roosevelt vs. Kennan and Bullitt on the Soviets
00:08:52 Isolationism: from Taft to JD Vance
00:09:45 Reagan and why American Europe was sacrosanct for so long
00:11:10 Patrick Buchanan and the first critics of the European commitment
00:12:42 Are Europeans getting a free ride? Morgan says yes
00:12:58 America is subsidizing Scandinavian social democracy
00:14:00 Civilizational America: what replaces American Europe?
00:20:00 Stephen Miller and the civilizational framing
00:24:00 Ukraine, Germany, and Russian gas: the slow realization
00:28:00 Macron and Europe’s military ambitions
00:34:13 Putin gets credit for seeing the future clearly
00:35:28 China as the beneficiary: a Chinese Europe in fifty years?
00:36:08 Machiavelli and the European strategy: play off three powers
00:36:45 Where in history can Europe look? De Gaulle’s lesson
00:37:21 We await a Bismarck. We have mediocre politicians.
00:38:02 1848 and the pessimism that preceded Bismarck
00:38:42 The museum future: visited by Chinese and American tourists
00:39:26 Wales and losing the struggle for world power very early
00:39:48 Look to Wales