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March 3, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
28:09
Alastair Crooke : How Europe Views Trump.
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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Monday, March 3rd, 2025.
Alistair Crook will be with us in just a moment on just how does Europe view President Trump today.
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Alistair, good day to you, my friend, and welcome here.
It's Monday afternoon in Europe.
What is the fallout from the confrontation between President Trump and President Zelensky Friday afternoon in the White House in Europe?
What is the fallout in Europe?
Well, people talk about hysteria in Europe.
That there is a form of hysteria or loss of, if you like, mental capacity that people are running around like headless chickens.
And that's true.
But I'm glad you put it in this way because I think there's a very important point to make.
What we're talking about when we talk about Europe and when it's talked about generally is in the fact...
The ruling strata, the deep state and the ruling strata and the mainstream media.
But don't forget, you know, that there are two Europes because there's another Europe, like, you know, the many that voted in the German election who are in favor or opposed to a war with Ukraine and in favor of good relations both with Russia and with President Trump.
They got 20%.
Overall, they just got the two branches, either the linker, the left, or the alternative for Deutschland, AFD.
They have now a blocking minority, if you like, in parliament.
So they can stop changes to the constitution.
And he does not, the new chancellor, does not have a majority.
Why do they not have a majority?
Because of something that Vance said very clearly on, the firewall.
Tear down the firewalls in Europe, he said, because in all of the European states, Europe has put together these disparate coalitions of minority parties to form what they call the centre.
And the centre will not do business and excludes completely.
Anything which it regards as, if you like, populist.
And it had support for doing this.
But the consequence is, very little has changed, very little has been done in Europe.
So the Europe is falling behind because it doesn't have the majority necessary to change rules, to change the constitution.
So, on the one hand, you have the elites.
And they are trying desperately.
But they're doing something which I think is extraordinary.
And they call it a historic moment for Western Europe.
I mean, in rather extravagant language.
And put together this conference yesterday in London.
But what they're doing is they are going head-to-head with the United States.
Because President Trump...
His administration wants to have a normalized relationship with Russia to change the new global order, to change to a new global order.
That was made absolutely explicit by Marco Rubio in an interview.
And he said, you know, the old global order, not only is it obsolete, but it has been weaponized against us.
Trump is about changing a lot of things.
The whole structure about security for world security.
Maybe we're moving towards spheres of influence type of structure.
Probably we are.
But it's a big project, this.
And Ukraine is a small part of it.
But he wants the Ukraine war settled.
And at the moment...
The combined forces of Europe that were present, if you like, in London this Sunday, wants the opposite.
It wants the war to continue, even though they have not the capacity either to finance a war with Russia or to provide the men for a war for Russia or to provide the equipment for it.
So this is why people call it delusional.
It is delusional.
Instead of which, what they have come up with and what...
Occurred in yesterday's meeting was the formulation of a trick.
It's essentially the aim is to put what we've called, I think, on this program before, tripwarts into the situation.
They don't have enough men to do anything significantly, but they want 25,000 to 30,000 French-British forces.
The plan is...
Have a truce, and then if the truce holds, they will put their proposals to the United States and expect the United States to do what Europe is telling them, apparently.
And then next, they expect that that will be bolstered by what they call a peacekeeping force on the ground.
But it ignores two manifold realities.
The first one is Russia has said categorically, we will not do a ceasefire.
A ceasefire may flow out from a settlement, but we are not going to start with a ceasefire.
No, it is unacceptable to us.
And anyone who comes into the theater trying to provide, if you like, peacekeeping forces without our permission.
We'll be regarded as a combatant, an enemy combatant and risks being killed.
And Russia has said also very clearly it will not have a ceasefire and it will not tolerate a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
It seems I don't know if Europe is hearing this.
And then you have President Trump very clearly understanding what is being asked of him.
They want to put European forces on the ground as a tripwire.
And if something happens during this period that they call a truce, these peacekeeping forces are attacked either by Russia, which is highly unlikely,
but as an incident happens, they will immediately come running to America and say, now you must put American boots on the ground.
And they don't seem to have heard Trump saying to them, listen, what I want is a deal.
I want the end of this war.
I don't want to go back to the war as you do.
And this puts Europe in an unbelievable position of absolutely contradicting the desires and wishes of the United States and putting themselves at the forefront of a war against it.
And I think when he looks at it, Trump will understand, you know, why is this happening?
And it is Europe who is saying, we want war with Russia.
We want a conflict with Russia, which is the opposite of what the United States wants.
And we want that.
And to do that, we are going to try and force the issue.
So that America gets pulled into it and is obliged to conflict.
Where does this come from?
It comes from the deep state, the meta-state, the European branch of that.
Is it a surprise?
President Trump mentioned in that famous encounter in the Oval Office, and he said, you know, it is both...
Putin and I, who were damaged by that Russiagate episode, by the allegations of that.
Where did Russiagate come from?
Well, it came from Britain.
Largely came from, it was certainly facilitated by Britain.
Let me...
Do you see this happening more?
Now, the next phase of this.
Lest anyone think that...
That this is not based on fact when you refer to the elites as delusional.
Here is Prime Minister Starmer yesterday at his delusional best.
Cut number two, Chris.
We will go further to develop a coalition of the willing to defend a deal in Ukraine and to guarantee the peace.
Not every nation will feel able to contribute.
But that can't mean that we sit back.
Instead, those willing will intensify planning now, with real urgency.
The UK is prepared to back this, with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others.
Europe must do the heavy listing.
But to support peace in our continent, and to succeed, this effort must have strong US backing.
We're working with the U.S. on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week.
And let me be clear.
We agree with the President on the urgent need for a durable peace.
Now, we need to deliver together.
How crazy is it for the Prime Minister of Great Britain to use those phrases?
Boots on the ground.
And planes in the air.
Does he want to start World War III in Europe?
Effectively, that's what it entails, precisely.
I mean, this is, you know, this is what he's trying to pull it in.
But, of course, what is the lie in that is that it's going to be boots on the ground, that it's Europe that is going to do the fighting with 25,000, 30,000 men.
I mean, this is ridiculous.
These are the tripwires intended to bring the United States back into conflict with Russia.
The Europeans would prefer to burn their bridges, if you like, with the United States and go into conflict with Trump, rather than to see Russia in any form win.
They said it is more important than peace to ensure the defeat of Russia.
That's the basis, the underlining.
It's more important than peace that Russia is seen to be defeated in this war.
And they've said this explicitly.
And I think Trump sees this clearly.
And this is why I think he understands Zelensky.
And now Zelensky is full of bravado after having been received by the king and all of this.
Hugging and, you know, messages of love from leading European elites, not the people, is that he's now saying, well, he won't go.
He won't leave.
It's one thing to hold elections.
But now I have the support of Europe.
You're not going to get rid of me.
So now he's challenging America as well.
Do we know if the German chancellor-in-waiting, because he doesn't have a government yet, you talked about that earlier in the program, Frederick Merz was there in London, and do we know if he and President Macron also promised boots on the ground and planes in the air,
being as pro-war as they have been?
He wasn't, because Schultz is still the chancellor at the moment.
And Schultz was there.
And Schultz is against, if you like, military forces.
But you're right about Merz.
He is promising the militarization and promising also declaring in this extraordinary way that Germany should make itself independent of the United States.
And if you like, challenge the United States.
But he has no army.
It's an imaginary army.
And he's not going to be able to, because of the...
I set out some of these things in a piece I wrote last week.
But there is the debt break in Germany.
And because, if you like, the AfD and the Linke have a third of a majority in Parliament.
They can stop changes to that.
And without that, he can only spend money on his military by taking it away from social projects, social welfare, from the railways, from infrastructure.
And that was what brought down the first coalition, that they were taking money from day schools, from the train system, in order to give it to Ukraine.
And we have now also Starmer giving another...
A large amount of money to Ukraine at this meeting and promising more.
Now, I'm sure on Thursday there's to be another emergency meeting, an emergency meeting of the Europeans.
And von der Leyen is saying we must make Ukraine, we must weaponize, we must build our forces.
There is nothing in the European treaties for a common defence structure.
In fact, the European treaties, because if you recall, I was part of that and worked for Solana, who was a former Secretary General of NATO at the time.
The treaties say European security policy must follow that of NATO, determined by NATO.
So there's no ability.
And they will try and do that.
But the point here is if they try and create a military out of nothing, they can only do it by debt, by issuing more and more debt.
We all know the dangers of that.
Alistair, do the NATO elites privately admit that they have no military force whatsoever without the United States?
They won't admit that, but they do quickly add, without the backstop of the U.S., it's impossible to put boots on the ground.
They acknowledge, without the United States, it's impossible.
And their idea of putting aeroplanes up or having, if you like, a no-fly zone would depend entirely on the American willingness to risk their aeroplanes in conflict with Russians.
And Trump is not going to do that.
And as I say, the point is, you know, Trump's concern, his relationship with Russia is not just about Ukraine, as the Europeans want to make it.
It is about a much bigger project, which involves nuclear weapons, it involves the Middle East, involves energy, business, many things.
He is not wanting to get...
If you like, sabotaged by Europe in this way.
So I think what we will see next are two things.
I mean, this is my speculation.
But I imagine he, you know, he was very polite and, you know, jocular with the European leaders when they came before Zelensky.
But I think he'll give them a smackdown quite soon.
And he's going to give Zelensky a smackdown.
Because he wants to get back to his project.
We know that President Putin would not tolerate a ceasefire because Foreign Minister Lavrov has said that many times.
They're not going to stop until they achieve their goal.
Why does Zelensky seem to fear a ceasefire?
Wouldn't it bolster his international credibility if he called for one?
He is frightened that if there was, first of all, that if a ceasefire was called, it would lead to his downfall because, you know,
his only reason for staying or his only claim for remaining the president of Ukraine is that there is military law.
Inactive, which supersedes, as he claims, the Constitution.
But as soon as there's a ceasefire and there is no conflict, even temporarily, then there is no reason why not to have an election, and in which case he might lose power altogether.
And so he doesn't want to have that risk.
And now he's saying, well, you can't get rid of me.
He's actually taunting because...
There's been talk in Washington that he has to go.
I mean, from the team.
Maybe even Lindsey Graham is saying he needs to go.
And he's saying, well, you can't.
Didn't you see what happened in Europe?
All these people were hugging me and saying they see me as a hero.
I'm not going.
So, I mean, I think, you know, Trump, obviously, I'm sure he suspects.
That the other fingers in this pie, not a million miles distant from Washington, that are encouraging the Europeans in this way.
And I think he's going to have to very quickly put down the Europeans.
I mean, I'm sure he'll do it in his usual jocular fashion, but it'll be a put-down nonetheless.
And the same for Zelensky.
Here's President Zelensky on Saturday.
Talking about whether or not, this doesn't make much sense to me, but this is his thinking, whether or not he can run for re-election at the present time.
Cut number five, Chris.
If I am to be changed, and I'll hear, how can I put it, with what's happening with the support, to change me, it will not be easy, because it is not enough to simply hold elections.
You would need to prevent me from participating in the election.
And it will be a bit more difficult.
They'll have to negotiate with me.
And I said that I'm exchanging it for NATO membership.
And then it means that I've fulfilled my mission.
There is NATO.
It means I've fulfilled my mission.
Also delusional, I suggest, if he thinks there's any circumstances under which Ukraine would join NATO, triggered by his resignation.
I think this is absurd.
Just moving on a little bit.
What do you think?
Can I just say, I think when he says that, it's because people had advised him before Friday's meeting to stand tall.
Against Trump.
And I think that came from elements, if you like, call it the meta-state or whether it is part of the European or the American deep state.
It doesn't matter.
But they advised him to stand tall and challenge.
This is part of a bigger challenge against Mr. Trump and what he is trying to do.
They are trying to undermine his attempt.
To establish, if you like, a new relationship with Russia.
And that should be really understood.
And again, as I say, this is only the elites, the ruling classes and the media.
But most Europeans, look, there are protests taking place in Romania and other parts at the moment.
There's strong support for a normalization.
Shared support.
With, if you like, the Trump team for a normalization with Russia and an end to this talk of war.
European, ordinary Europeans, don't want war with Russia.
It seems absolutely nuts.
Why would we want a war with Russia?
We couldn't possibly win a war with Russia.
Mertz, President Macron, do they go to bed at night wondering, worrying, and fearing that Russia might attack them?
No, this is made up.
And, you know, Trump said it the other day in one of the pressings.
He was told, you know, but the Europeans are frightened about an invasion of NATO by Russia.
And he said, I don't believe that.
I don't believe it for one moment.
Right. It's not, you know, nor really do Europeans.
This is being used to manage the European, if you will.
And, you know, in countries like Britain, there is great support, which is not just in the ruling elite, but there is support.
You know, Zelensky has been built up as a hero fighting for Europe.
I mean, endlessly, day after day.
And now...
And to underline my point, there's an element of the meta-state at the moment.
If you read the European press, what do you see?
Oh, Russia is likely to collapse soon.
They're failing.
Yes, they're making some progress on the battlefield, but they are losing.
Their economy is coming and they're going to collapse and they won't be able to sustain it.
One little push.
One more exercise and then Russia will fall down and we will have all the benefits of a collapse of Russia.
And this is being...
It's rubbish.
You'll find it across total rubbish.
But, you know, the mainstream media is very controlled in Europe and they're pushing this out across many, many areas.
The same story.
You know, the collapse is coming.
Russia is sort of overextended.
Yes, they've done a little bit, but, you know, they can't go on another year and they'll be finished.
And that's why many Europeans think that, you know, if they can only persuade Trump to go on a bit, you know, deus ex machina.
Putin will go.
Right. Perhaps the answer to this is ridiculous.
I don't know.
But what on earth do you think?
President Zelensky and King Charles discussed.
What could Charles possibly have said to him?
I don't think I'd like to answer that.
You are still...
I just want to...
I just think...
I think you guessed it absolutely what he said.
Thank you so much for your analysis today.
My goodness, I had pages of comments to make to you and barely scratched the surface because you hit so many minutes on the head.
Thank you very much.
I'm sorry if I interrupted some of your questions.
Oh, don't be silly.
Your comments are right on the mark and deeply appreciated and utterly relevant and uniquely Crookian.
Thank you so much, Alistair.
All the best.
We'll see you next week, my dear friend.
Okay, thank you.
Bye, too.
And coming up later today at 10 o'clock this morning, Ray McGovern at 11.30, Larry Johnson at 1 o'clock, Colonel Douglas McGregor at 2 o'clock, Scott Ritter at 4 o'clock, Max Blumenthal.
Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.
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