How Europeans Really Feel About America in 2025

American politics kind of feel like a South Park episode right now, in my opinion. It's concerning what's happening. It's the connection between Russia and the USA, which is ridiculous. I should have seen this coming. I mean, just walking up to random people and asking them about politics, how did I think that was going to go well? Politics are mostly losers. They all, like, never finish their studies. History. repeating itself. Fuck Trump. He told the bullshit. Fuck Trump. Fuck America. How do you feel about Trump? I'm afraid. I don't understand him. It feels like we're living in a very different moment in history even compared to just a few years ago. My feeling is that we're on a high-speed train right now into the future and yet we're not there yet. We're kind of actually seeing it happen in real time. Maybe that's why all the developments that happen in today's world feel so important and consequential. And maybe with the exception of the early months of the pandemic, I don't think I've ever felt like I'm in the pages of a history book as it's being written as much as I do right now. A couple of years ago, I did a video called Why Do Europeans Dislike Americans So Much, exploring how the image of the United States has changed quite a bit around the world since the advent of the internet. I think it's a third world country with love money. I think they're a bit stupid. Well, a lot has happened since then. I told you before I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Stupid pressure! European Union, they rip us off. It's so sad to see. I don't think we've seen a shift in the world order like we're witnessing right now in my lifetime. I like to playfully explore and compare the differences between the old world and the new world in the West. But the reality is that over the last 80 years, Europe and the United States have been... tightly knit. I'm talking about the portion of Europe that did not belong to the USSR. But then after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this only expanded to include more Eastern European countries. And now in 2025, the current US administration is telling the world this is coming to an end. Tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary. We're going to focus on ourselves. We're not going to play nice, even if we were allies in the past. And we don't care what you think of us. This is obviously a very big shift. And to piece this together, to make sense of this, I thought I'd ask the Europeans how they felt. So I spent a little bit of time in a small Bavarian town as well as here in Vienna. The whole kind of America first thing that's happening in the US, do you think that's bad for Europe? It's bad for America as well. If you isolate your country, you're fucked. At the moment it kind of looks like America's... just concerned about themselves. It's a disastrous change in the connection between the United States and Europe, especially in Germany as well. Horrible, really horrible. Only because of this horrible guy. It's a global world. You can't go back to, I don't know, Pittsburgh Steel or whatever. This time's gone and it's pretty much the same. Germans oftentimes complain, oh, we're paying all the shit in Europe and Europe is on our shoulders. No, it's bullshit. Without Europe, German economy wouldn't be as strong as it is and as it has been throughout the past 30, 40, 50 years. Some questions. What is this about? I mean, what is the whole... I'm exploring the evolving relationship between Europe and the US. Gotcha. Evolving. Like evolving. I think things are changing. Evolving like in the right way or in the wrong way? Well, that's up to you. So we're like testing the waters. Wait, hold on. I got to take this. I'm sorry. Go for it. That is so American. That's so funny. How do you see Europeans reacting to Trump? To Trump? That's so interesting you ask that, right? Because as soon as we say we're Americans, that's a lot of people's first questions. A lot of Europeans... They'd say, if we were American citizens, we probably would have voted for Trump. Really? Yeah. Obviously, there's been a few people who disagree with his policy. I feel like it's not very European. But we've also had a lot of people, a good amount, say they like a lot of his policies. There are a lot of people who vote him, yes. And therefore, something must be here that they can vote him, yes. I don't think that all Americans are stupid. I can understand that Trump says america first we have to look for for this country but it's so so extreme it's crazy but there are some points they can agree with us right i like trump you do yeah i do i don't like him on a personal level i think personally he's not the greatest human being maybe but he's a good president what do you think makes him a good president he's good for the economy um and he's good for the average american in my opinion Yeah, I don't know. He promises a lot of things. He fails to make most of them true. But I guess he has good intentions most of the time. So yeah, I guess he's okay. We can go both ways because we were so dependent on the US and it was a pretty tight relationship. And probably German politicians in Europe trusted too much on this relationship and were too much on the back of the US. And I think Europe has now the chance. maybe with this wake-up call, how Trump is behaving and how Trump is doing this America first to strengthen the European Union as its own and not make you dependent from other superpowers. Like I mentioned before, we have seen an unusually prosperous 80 years, especially in the West. And this isn't to gloss over the atrocities and disasters that have happened over the last century, but, you know, for most of our parents or our grandparents, they expected life to get better as they got older. And a lot of that lends itself to how the West organized itself. And then the first major cracks appeared, at least in my mind, in 2016, the year of the Brexit vote, as well as the year that Trump first became president and I'm not saying any of this stuff is good or bad I'll get to that a little bit more later on in this video but I'm just saying that clearly there's a huge appetite for change people want new rules so we're gonna have new rules I think that you know Trump is very America first, right? And I think a lot of Europeans feel that they'll lose support in certain ways, like on a global scale. So maybe that's why. But also, you know, a lot of European countries are more social-based healthcare systems and things like that, which is different from a lot of Trump's policies. Right. What are some of the things in America you don't understand? There's a health system. Why didn't they have a better social system? Why didn't they... do with all the money they put into war. And you know, our social system is also not the best because there are a lot of people who just live from the social system and from nothing else. So it's also not good. It just feels kind of like it's different the second time around. It is different. It is different. I feel like, you know, especially with him coming back, he's been taking the last four years when Biden was president. He's been figuring things out. He's been moving quick. It's been a few months. Obviously, everything he does makes the news. Also, it's super interesting to see how much of American politics are broadcasted here in Europe. I feel like I'm not out of the mix at all because a lot of Europeans talk about American politics. They're kind of looking at us like a weird time for everybody. The general vibe is... If you go on the subway, you'll see they're posting American news on the walls. So you're Ukrainian? Ukrainian, yes. From Kiev, yes. Fuck Trump. He told the bullshit about Putin and about Zelensky's dictator. Like I said, the current U.S. administration is very focused on this America first message. We're going to end wars, we're going to withdraw, etc. This is all getting cheerled by many of America's businesses and billionaires who curry favor by offering, presenting the president with gifts. For a long time now, maybe since forever, I don't know. American politics are awash with money. What I find kind of funny about this America First messaging is that it's sort of selective, right? Because American politicians are actually staying remarkably involved in things happening around the world. I'm talking about Trump wanting to take Greenland, which is a part of, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, or the Panama Canal, which belongs to Panama, or Canada, which belongs to Canada. But another example that I wanted to investigate a little more closely was Elon's endorsement of AFD, a conservative party in Germany, which has been often associated with the Nazis. This is something that they deny, but they do use language and slogans that were associated with the Nazis. FPE, the Freedom Party of Austria, is very similar. And while I'm not well versed in Austrian or German politics, it was quite eye-opening to see how sketched out Austrians and Germans were about this. All right, we're going to try getting some opinions on Elon Musk. What do you think about Elon Musk? Yeah, Elon Musk is not good. Elon Musk is not good. Not good? Not good. I think he should leave the politics. How did you feel about Elon Musk getting involved in European politics? Yeah, that's horrible. There's nothing positive in it. Yeah, okay. Great. Cool. Thanks. You're welcome. What do you think of Elon Musk? A revolutionary, a genius, a philanthropist, a millionaire. That's it, guys. Elon Musk. He's the best. How do you think Elon Musk is influencing the image of America abroad? That's a very interesting question. Can't understand how far a person like this can get. Elon or Trump? Both. I don't like him. I mean, I think I'm lost for words how you can behave like that. Maybe a lot of what is happening in the US. is a bit too similar to what happened in germany a long time ago you try to silence voices and it's and it never comes like fast with a bang but it's kind of and i think this is sometimes what germans are worried about is that you kind of know that the fascism is mostly coming silently hitler didn't didn't do it from the first day maybe the idea is not bad to say hey we have to look at efficiency and maybe he did it when he had a same mind but he's not doing for the sake of of the people or for the state is doing of the sake of more power for a few people obviously i don't like the developments in the us right now so much and it scares me i guess and but it's also super weird to me i read the news in the morning and i'm like what the what how in the us especially i'm concerned about how easy it is for People that have a lot of money and power to just change things like this. They just go in and, I don't know, fire people. They just change things. Names of places, they change rules, they change laws. I think the one thing that I kind of hold on to is that there was already a time where Trump was president and I kind of feel like we survived it. But also, I'm not... personally affected, I guess, by the things that change. Also I'm very privileged and for me it's not necessarily such bad news than for other people that are discriminated against. So are you concerned about the future because of what's happening? It will be bad for the whole world, the environment and the poor people. I feel sometimes we get so focused on who the bad guy is that we lose sight of the real problem, the bigger problem. The bigger problem being The system How do we end up with people like this? I'm talking about the two-party system in the United States and before I get accused of picking a team here That's exactly what I want to avoid I think our tendency as human beings to pick a team to pick a tribe and to demonize the others is really holding us back it's it's really adding fuel to the fire here it does feel like it's impossible to have any kind of really productive conversations about how we solve the problems that we face today collectively if we keep doing this what i dislike about this system this setup is that the two sides are just egging each other on and so they push each other or really they pull each other to go further and further in each respective direction what do you think about the two-party system in the united states well Quite okay, but now it's not a two-party system because we have no balance of power anymore. The worst is Trump against judges and against the press. Very, very, very bad because that's the beginning of being a dictator. That has been as well in Germany at the beginning of the Hitler time. It's the same style of problems we have in America now and we had in 1933. So you prefer the system in Germany now with multiple different parties? Yeah, because then a lot of people with different minds can come together and not only one opinion and one direction. In America, I think there are two blocks against each other, which are enemies. I land in different places on different issues you know I'm a little more conservative on certain things a little more progressive on others and it kind of sucks to feel like you have to pick all of your opinions based off of what team you're in in America I feel like that the two parties kind of cover the political needs of the... I don't know if I agree with you on that. I feel like I'm always having to pick between two options I don't like. It's the same for us. You know, in Austria, we would say it's the pest or the cholera. You know, five years ago, you couldn't go anywhere without the words diversity and inclusion being thrown around all over the place, right? And now the pendulum has swung and you can't even use the word gender anymore. Companies, big companies in the United States have hired Trump task forces so that they make sure that they comply with all the new executive orders and don't use the wrong language when they do reporting. Right now, the Democrats are in shambles, but we're already seeing signs of them mounting a comeback fight. And it might take several years, but I fully suspect that once they figure out a way to punch back, they're going to go full force. And then the country is going to swing in a whole new direction. That's what I think is gonna happen. It's unfortunate because I think there's valid points on both sides. There really are. There's a basis of truth, but it just gets twisted and distorted so much. Well, I think the two-party system as a whole is kind of bad. Too little diversity. Like they're using their power and money to do something that's not good for... Now, I'd love to say that Europe has this more figured out than us Americans. But I really am not convinced of that. France is currently a mess. Its centrist president is deeply hated. The most popular guy on the left is a total clown. The most popular woman on the right just got charged with embezzlement and can't even run for presidency the next time around. It's just a mess. Germany's coalition government that it tried to make work for the longest time didn't, and so it had to do another election, and that's actually unbelievably common, by the way. I think it's fair to say that the UK has had a really rough go since Brexit. Believe it or not, Belgium at one point went 652 days without a functioning federal government. Portugal's government just recently collapsed. Since the end of World War II, Italy has had 69 different governments, which means there's a new government every 1.11 years, on average. It would seem democracy is quite messy. Do you feel optimistic or concerned about the future for Europe? Very tough question. The reality is that most people don't know what's going on, neither do I, in politics. If you talk about it, it's just, you know, it doesn't change really anything. Like you've lost friends over politics? Really? Yeah. Turns out politicians kind of suck everywhere. This is not just an America problem, I think. This is a human problem. It does feel to me like the US and Europe have been in a kind of marriage of sorts over the last 80 years. And there have been great moments in this marriage, some less great moments. And it's unclear if this marriage is going to continue. At the very least, the rules are changing. But this is how it goes, right? Change is the only constant. Humans want things to stay the same forever, and they don't. They just can't. I think there's a massive amount of disruption happening around the world that a lot of politicians are capitalizing on. It's not clear what the best answer is, what the best approach is. This is why I'm making this video series. piece things together to make sense of things and this by the way is episode three so if you want to check out the first two episodes I'll leave links to them in the description below there is a lot more to come I'm very excited so if you're interested in knowing when new episodes come out consider subscribing and if you enjoyed watching this consider hitting the like button it helps me out by promoting this video so that more people can see it the algorithms am I right anyway I think this relationship between Europe and the US is fascinating I really do think we have a lot to learn from each other I guess part of me thinks that the U.S. is really overreacting to some stuff, but at the same time, I also think Europe really shouldn't be so dependent on the U.S. in the first place. But I guess it's not that simple. Finally, I do a lot of writing on Substack. And if you enjoy these video essays, if you enjoy my thoughts on things, then you might find a lot of value in that. I do a lot of writing about navigating this very fast-changing world that we live in. So I'll leave a link to that in the description below as well. All right. Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you soon.

Previous episodes in the series:

Episode 1, Making Money in Europe vs. The US → https://youtu.be/G9TnPl2Yq4c
Episode 2, is Europe or the US headed for disaster first? → https://youtu.be/Tn-IYZBq9io

My Substack (free blog/newsletter) → https://nathanieldrew.substack.com/

Second Channel → https://www.youtube.com/@nobackupplan
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Online courses → https://www.nathanieldrew.com/onlinecourses
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Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro
2:33 – Is "America First" bad for Europe?
4:03 – What do you think of Trump?
5:48 – The World Order is changing
6:45 – What are things in America that you don't understand?
7:12 – American News Making it to Europe
7:58 – Investigating Europeans' views of Elon Musk
10:23 – Reacting to change
12:05 – Are we all missing the point?
12:55 – Two-party System vs. Multi-party System
15:44 – Europe has its own political problems
17:08 – Concluding Thoughts