The parallels between the current challenges facing the U.S. and EU, particularly when it comes to obstruction from far-right populists, has reinforced a tendency to equate the problems faced by both systems of government. However, the EU is suffering from a chronic but manageable affliction, while the U.S. has an acute condition.
The Biden administration seems determined to ensure that its foreign policy achievements not be undone by any potential Republican successors. The administration might just pull off that goal, largely because the foundation of Biden’s foreign policy is, in turn, built on the foundation of his Republican predecessor: Donald Trump.
Since Donald Trump’s shock victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election many commentators have compared his rise with the victory of the anti-EU Leave campaign in the referendum over the U.K.’s EU membership the same year. Yet too often such comparisons have ignored huge differences between these political earthquakes.
