Following the election in the United States, French President Emmanuel Macron said on November 7: “Donald Trump was elected by Americans to defend the interests of Americans. The question we, as Europeans, must ask ourselves is, are we ready to defend the interests of Europeans?”

The simple answer is no, or rather, not yet.

Macron told European leaders during a gathering in Budapest, Hungary: “For me, it’s simple. The world is made up of herbivores and carnivores. If we decide to remain herbivores, then the carnivores will win and we will be a market for them. I think, at the very least, we should choose to become omnivores. I don’t want to be aggressive, just that we know how to defend ourselves on all these subjects.”

Donald Trump’s comeback has opened Europe’s eyes to its lack of leadership and created a demand for action. The New York Times commented on November 10: “Missing in Europe: A Strong Leader for a New Trump Era.”

Europe is being invaded by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. He enjoys the support of China, India and Iran; in addition, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un just sent thousands of troops to join the fighting in Ukraine. Europe is now being invaded by two strongmen. Yet its response has been almost unnoticeable.

At the same time, terrorist groups in the Middle East have managed to interrupt vital trade routes leading through the Red Sea. While Israel’s strong leader takes out one terrorist leader after another, European warships sent to defend the trade routes often merely watch the action. While Hezbollah threatens to attack European Union nations and Iran threatens mass destruction, EU leaders often fail to agree on strongly worded letters.

But now the election of Donald Trump is achieving what previous crises could not: Europe is recognizing the urgent need for strong leadership. The New York Times wrote:

Donald J. Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency could spell a lonely and dangerous stretch for Europe, which is already mired in economic stagnation and rattled by war on its eastern doorstep. It is a moment that European leaders agree demands renewed and forceful leadership from the Continent’s two largest economies.

But France and Germany, which are also the European Union’s most important countries, are struggling to answer the call.

Macron has lost control over domestic politics in France just months before Germany’s governing coalition collapsed last week and as extreme parties surge in popularity.

This puts Europe in a precarious situation. Former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg emphasized this in his podcast on November 13:

Europe can no longer lethargically lie down on its lazy skin, but must finally take action. And that applies to Germany in particular. And that of course brings us to the situation of what Germany can do if it simply pulverizes itself with its government? And that is of course a fundamental question that we now have to answer.

More and more analysts agree that if Europe wants to get ahead, it needs more capable leadership.

“There is a very clear crisis of Franco-German leadership that is intensifying with the collapse of the German coalition and with France self-absorbed by its own internal political divisions,” said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “And that’s a handicap on the European and international stage.”

The leaders of the EU’s major economies are lame ducks. As the New York Times noted:

The uncertainty from Paris to Berlin has created a continental power vacuum that may embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine. It threatens to hobble Europe’s ability to respond to a global trade war if Mr. Trump moves quickly next year to impose hefty taxes on imports to the United States.

It is likely to further muddle European leaders’ efforts to forge a common policy to shield their industries from a surge of low-cost Chinese imports, including electric cars and other clean-energy technologies.

And it could complicate the already difficult political task of ratcheting up European spending on the military, which leaders and analysts agree will take on new urgency amid Mr. Trump’s intermittent threats to pull out of nato or otherwise pull back American security guarantees for European allies. …

Analysts agree the most natural fits to lead a more independent, muscular Europe would need to come from Berlin or Paris, the very places now most troubled.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong predicted the rise of this “independent, muscular Europe” after the end of World War ii and even while the Iron Curtain divided Europe. In the November-December 1954 Plain Truth, he wrote:

In February 1945—just a few months before the end of the war—President [Franklin] Roosevelt and Prime Minister [Winston] Churchill announced the joint American-British policy on Germany. This was the solemn policy and warning for the future. Listen.

Quote: “It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German armed forces; break up for all time the German General Staff that has repeatedly contrived the resurgence of German militarism ….” And now, a short nine years later, behold the spectacle of Washington and London making every possible diplomatic effort, backed by American dollars, to do two things: create a United States of Europe and to rearm Germany. …

Germany inevitably [will] emerge as the leader of a united Europe. It will require some spiritual binding force to inspire this confidence—to remove these fears—and that spiritual binding force must arise from inside Europe! All Europe is actually ready—just waiting for the confidence-inspiring leader …. That man is there somewhere.

Mr. Armstrong was years ahead of his time (read He Was Right). We are seeing Europe unite—and the calls for leadership from Germany are growing louder.

The books of Daniel and Revelation speak of a union of nations forming in the heart of Europe in a crisis. These nations are prophesied to join their economic and military power under one emperor. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:12-13). Events are rapidly taking shape for the fulfillment of this prophecy.

To learn more about the coming European strongman, read “Is a World Dictator About to Appear?” in He Was Right.