During his first several weeks back in the White House, United States President Donald Trump rattled many in the Western world by dishonoring U.S. alliances and making overture after overture to Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. His administration pushed pro-Moscow plans to end Russia’s war, parroted Kremlin propaganda, suspended military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, shrugged off the threat Russia poses to Europe, antagonized America’s allies including with Putin-esque threats of annexing territory, mulled leaving nato, and voted with Russia in the United Nations against a resolution that not even Cuba and China had the stomach to reject.

For a time, this all seemed like a godsend for the Russian leaders. Several of them openly celebrated.

But the Trump administration’s statements and policies scorning alliances and collective defense just kept coming. This was not just a short-term negotiation tactic; America had truly come to loathe the idea of helping to defend other nations, including treaty allies. If all of this could have been whispered into Putin’s ear, the celebrations in the Kremlin would likely have continued. But the problem for Russia was that the world was listening—and the Europeans heard it loud and clear.

And Europe began to wake up.

“After Donald Trump’s statement in the last week, it is clear that the Americans are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,” Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, said on February 24. “For me, the absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the U.S.A.”

“A new era is upon us,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on March 4. “Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us has seen in our adult lifetime.”

“I want to believe the U.S. will stay by our side,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on March 6, “but we have to be ready if that isn’t the case. … Who can believe that this Russia of today will stop at Ukraine?”

Merz made a follow-up statement on March 14: “There will be no shortage of financial resources to defend freedom and peace on our continent. … Germany is back!”

These were bombshell statements, showing that the Europeans are jolted by Russia’s aggression and the realization that they may have to face it without America. And they have been backing these statements up with major actions.

On March 4, the European Commission made a historic announcement: $840 billion would be spent on a program called “Rearm Europe.” Von der Leyen explained: “[We will] use all the financial levers at our disposal in order to help member states to quickly and significantly increase expenditures in defense capabilities, urgently now, but also over [a] longer period of time, over this decade.”

At the same time, Germany’s leadership agreed to a massive change that basically lets the government borrow all the money it wants—as long as it’s for military purposes. This is “a really big bazooka” and “a fiscal sea change for Germany,” Berenberg Bank chief economist Holger Schmieding said. “[It] is without a doubt the biggest U-turn in Germany since 1969,” EuroIntelligence wrote. Leaked plans show that Germany wants to spend an additional $440 billion on defense.

France announced on March 18 that a plan is now in place for fighter jets armed with nuclear warheads to be deployed at an airbase close to the German border. “This marks the beginning of the renewal and modernization of our nuclear deterrence forces,” Macron said.

Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland are now spending almost 2.5 percent of gross domestic product on military. The Baltic nations are all spending at least 3 percent of gdp on their militaries. Denmark enacted a plan to hit 3 percent as well. And Poland is now on track to hit a stunning 4.7 percent of gdp on its military this year.

For Mr. Trump, all of this is a good start for Europe. But he wants more.

It isn’t hard to imagine Putin now pacing the halls of the Grand Kremlin Palace, reflecting back somewhat fondly on the era of United States President Joe Biden. Sure, Biden supplied Ukraine with weaponry, and that weaponry hindered Russia’s conquest of the nation. But the Biden administration gave Ukraine only a slow drip of arms—never enough to push Russia out. And crucially, Biden’s slow drip was enough to keep the Europeans somewhat comfortable with U.S. security commitments. And his overall foreign policy kept the Europeans reassured that America was still on their side. Under Biden, the Europeans saw that the U.S. would still take at least half measures to prevent aggressors from running roughshod over the Continent. So they kept on spending as little as they could get away with on military, satisfied that if a crisis erupted, their American nato partner would step in.

But now Mr. Trump is back. And as he continues going “scorched earth” on America’s alliances, showing indifference to the fate of Europe and the overall global order, the Europeans are awakening. They are arising and transforming the Continent into a unified military juggernaut—one that will soon be armed to the teeth and ready to take Russia on. And so, Trump’s isolationism that initially seemed a blessing for Putin’s Russia is becoming a foreboding curse.

But Russia is not the only power for whom a resurgent Europe will be a curse. “Does it make sense for the Trump administration to be encouraging a massive European arms buildup?” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in the latest Trumpet. “Prophecy shows that America’s efforts will backfire spectacularly.”

To understand how President Trump’s direction will “backfire spectacularly,” read Mr. Flurry’s article “Does Donald Trump Know the Way to Peace?”