The day of the US setting the tone, especially in defence, is gone. This will put an enormous stress on the EU

Howard Dean said that Donald Trump's re-election would force Europe to grow up.

But demands that European states stand on their own feet ignores how comfortable those feet have become in their slippers since the beginning of the Cold War .

Under unchallenged American leadership, Europe benefited greatly, especially economically, from the protection of the US security umbrella.

Trump has said he will demand a rise in the minimum percentage of GDP marked for defence and NATO by European countries, from two percent to three percent .

But many Western states now believe that the war cannot be won.

Trump sympathises with doomsayers and his administration is likely to force a negotiation between the two presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin .

The militant liberalism that impelled Western states to intervene in the Balkans , Afghanistan , Iraq , Libya , the Sahel , and Ukraine has been haemorrhaging support for years .

The dismemberment of Ukraine , should it occur, will surely deliver the coup de grâce to liberal interventionism.

Leaders of the resurgent Right will come to power as liberalism in their countries falters.