The West Split in Two: The End of Democracy as We Know It?
Either Trump’s strategy with Russia and Europe is progressively brilliant, or something is happening that signifies the beginning of the West’s disintegration and a radical shift in the direction of the United States. Either Trump and his administration are throwing “curveballs,” aiming around corners, with his verbal strategy differing from his actual intentions, or what he says and does is meant deadly seriously, straightforwardly, and without any exaggeration. And if it’s the latter, then we’re in trouble—trouble no one was prepared for.
A Chess Game or the Collapse of Order?
I sincerely hope for the first option. That he has had a well-thought-out strategy prepared all along, several chess moves ahead, with a secret backdrop of a risky game that will only reveal itself over time, leaving everyone slapping their foreheads and saying, “Oh, I see! So that’s what he had planned all along!”
Option one, then, is that the Trump administration is fabricating, that they don’t mean what they say, that Trump is genuinely aiming to stop Russia, that he’s exaggerating and applying some higher form of negotiation that we’re not yet aware of. That he will indeed end the war in Ukraine, solve the complex and fragile puzzle with an insensitive hammer, and somehow tame Putin with flattery and by standing behind Russia. And once the dust settles, history will continue in a similar direction as before the war. Europe will wake up from its rosy slumber, increase defense spending, and stop acting as if we live in a world morally advanced by two hundred years compared to reality. That we will need nuclear power, that we cannot afford to rely too much on human kindness, that there are enemies of the free world who cannot be tolerated but must be defeated. And that Europe will finally take its own Draghi Report seriously and start acting accordingly—namely, that it will push forward and complete its integration and, in the words of the report, “stop producing twelve types of tanks when the US produces just one unified model.”
Techno-Messiahs and Torn Faith
But if one delves into the spiritual source of Trump’s and especially Musk’s faith, a different picture might emerge. There, one would find, among other things, elements of the philosophies of Peter Thiel, Jordan Peterson, Solovyov, Benson, televangelists and their Faith Movement, as well as parts of Yarvin and his concept of Dark Enlightenment. These are relatively diverse currents, but in an oversimplified and combined form, they roughly say this: European-style democracy is outdated, and individuals will be liberated more by technology, which democracy and its all-encompassing bureaucracy only hinder. Postmodernism has deconstructed everything and for too long has only given us dead water to drink—it has torn apart faith in the grand narrative in the Hegelian-Jewish-Christian sense.
The End of the Old Order: Evolution or Collapse?
Whether Trump is playing a risky chess game with the future of the West or we are witnessing the inevitable collapse of the old order, one thing is certain—the world as we knew it is changing faster than we are willing to admit.
Perhaps we are facing a return to realpolitik, where Europe can no longer rely on the American security cushion and will have to stand on its own feet. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a new technological elite that does not believe in democracy but in algorithms and the power of individuals. Perhaps the West is not disintegrating—it is just transforming into a form we cannot yet comprehend.
The World After the West?
What if we have long been living in a world after the West? We have grown accustomed to thinking in terms of the old order—liberal democracy, transatlantic ties, shared values. But while we are still debating whether Europe and America belong to the same civilizational space, history is already moving forward. China is building a parallel world system. Artificial intelligence is beginning to change the very nature of human labor. Traditional political institutions are collapsing under the weight of global changes they were not built to handle.
Perhaps, then, we are asking the wrong questions. It’s not just about whether the West will survive. It’s about what comes after it. If we are truly entering an era of techno-messiahs, corporations stronger than states, and new ideologies that do not account for democracy, then we should ask ourselves a fundamental question: Will we still play a leading role in this new world, or will we become just a nostalgic memory of a golden age?
In any case, one thing remains certain: Europe must stand up, wake up from its peaceful dream, and find its Spirit. Do what Draghi advised us to do in his report last year: quickly complete integration. We must either lead, follow, or get out of the way.
