ArcaMax

PARIS — The Trump administration recently labeled Europe “weak,” warning of “civilizational erasure” because it obsesses over political correctness. Indeed, it's quite the contrast with Team Trump, which seems rather unconcerned with restraint or respect. Hardly a week passes without Trump telling female reporters to be “quiet, piggy” or questioning their intelligence.

The administration frequently frames Europe in gendered terms, repeatedly citing its supposed lack of “self-confidence” in global affairs. Earlier this year, at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance criticized European leaders for censoring social media, including “anti-feminist” comments.

The message seems to be that Europe is failing because it polices speech like a mom telling her teenager to watch his foul mouth.

While Europe has considerable room for improvement on freedom of expression, the Trump administration sees European weakness far more clearly than it sees its own. Their insecurity doesn't quietly slink around all hunched over. It manifests as domination. Those who can't tolerate feeling small often insist that everyone else kneel.

There are two types of insecure people: those who let others walk over them, and those who are control freaks. Trump embodies the latter. Not even the White House has been spared from this impulse, with gold decorations now plastered across its walls, subjected to a fire hydrant-style marking of territory in a physical manifestation of ego and authority.

Even allies aren’t exempt. America First loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene was called “a very dumb person” after announcing her resignation from Congress in January, amid criticism that Trump ignored pressing domestic issues, distracted instead by special-interest priorities abroad — from Israel to Venezuela.

Every woman knows that guys who can't walk away after a breakup — political or otherwise — are expressing insecurity, not strength. Blind obedience to Trump is framed and marketed as a virtue. In reality, it undermines the true freedoms the MAGA movement claims to defend.

Trump’s personalization of loyalty, hypersensitivity to criticism and constant need for public affirmation are hallmarks of fragility. Litmus tests and loyalty demonstrations enforce this, marginalizing anyone who dares challenge authority with precisely the debate and dissent on which democracy depends for its own strength.

Consider the administration’s recent policies targeting foreigners. Travelers entering the U.S. could be required to submit private data, including email addresses, social media activity and even those of family members. Homeland Security’s 11-page document also stipulates collection of “biometrics,” including DNA. Suddenly, your genetic code could be linked to your political or personal beliefs in a government database — a chilling possibility for civil liberties everywhere.

Earlier this year, the State Department revoked the visas of foreigners from South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and Mexico because of online reactions to the death of influencer Charlie Kirk. Surely the lack of interest in defending the First Amendment in these cases had nothing to do with the fact that Kirk also ran a $100 million pro-Trump slush fund.

An American federal judge was also forced to overrule, on free speech grounds, the State Department’s revocation of a Turkish Ph.D student’s visa after she wrote an op-ed criticizing American policy on Israel and Gaza.

The Israel-Gaza war was a key point of contention within Trump’s own camp, with America First supporters arguing that his top donors had unduly influenced his policies in favor of Israel and against the best interests of Americans.

Back in March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of visa revocations that “it might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.” One person’s free speech is apparently this State Department’s “harassment,” “taking over buildings,” or “creating a ruckus,” as Reuters reported.

Trump’s attempts to silence dissent extend beyond foreign nationals. He pressured late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel over coverage of Trump top fundraiser Kirk’s death and criticized media coverage as “97% negative,” suggesting that media licenses should be revoked.

Even foreign governments face similar pressures under the guise of “national security,” from Venezuela to Iran, when they refuse to comply with American demands.

This is not European-style censorship. It is an American pattern, rooted in McCarthyism, loyalty oaths, blacklisting and COINTELPRO surveillance of populist movements from the 1950s through the 1970s. Policing thought is exhausting. Citizens are told not to speak freely or challenge authority, lest they risk being called stupid or likened to a farm animal by the president of the United States.

If Team Trump is going to lecture Europe, then it should also acknowledge its own insecurities masquerading as strength. Democracy thrives when citizens think for themselves, not when they bow to fragility in power. Truly populist movements — the kind with which Trump purports to identify — have long recognized that courage and dissent are essential to a healthy society.

The only response to fragile leadership is to keep dissenting, thinking independently and refusing to abide by censorship of oneself or others — even when faced with attempts to collect your DNA like some kind of future relic for a quaint museum to remember freedoms once taken for granted.