By Brian Daitzman, The Intellectualist
Friday, February 28, 2025, will be remembered as a day of infamy—a moment as dark in America’s history as December 7th, January 6th, and September 11th. This is the day the United States did not just abandon its leadership in the democratic world—it actively joined the forces working to dismantle it.
For decades, America was the backbone of the international order. The world relied on Washington for security, stability, and the defense of democratic values. Allies coordinated with the U.S. before making major decisions. Dictators feared its economic leverage. Enemies calculated their moves carefully.
That world is gone.
Today, NATO allies plan around Washington, not with it. Dictators act without concern for American retaliation. And for the first time in modern history, the United States is no longer a democracy defending freedom—it is a power aligned against it.
This is the moment when the U.S. officially passed the baton of global leadership, not to another democracy, but to the forces of authoritarianism. This is the moment it changed teams.
In the 18th century, America was the answer to European despotism. The U.S. Constitution was a radical rejection of monarchy, tyranny, and the suppression of liberty. America’s founding was an act of defiance against the old world, a revolution meant to establish democracy as a permanent force in human history.
Now, history has reversed itself.
Today, Europe has become the standard-bearer of democracy, while the United States is slipping into the very despotism it once rejected. By nearly every measure—press freedom, fair elections, democratic participation, protections against corruption—European democracies now surpass the United States.
And now, Europe has formally acknowledged it must take the mantle America has abandoned.
Kaja Kallas’ statement—“The free world needs a new leader.”—wasn’t just a warning. It was a declaration of succession. America created the postwar order. Now, Europe will inherit it.
The United States did not simply lose influence today—it lost the very role it created for itself at its founding.
February 28, 2025, is not just a diplomatic failure or a foreign policy shift—it is the moment when the world stopped pretending.
For years, U.S. allies privately acknowledged what had been taboo to say outright: that the United States, under Trump, was falling into autocracy and was no longer a defender of democracy, but an enemy of it.
This was an open secret, discussed behind closed doors in diplomatic circles, spoken about off-record by journalists, and alluded to in veiled statements by world leaders. The reality had been clear for some time, but no major ally had dared to declare it openly.
That changed today.
For decades, the assumption was that if democracy were ever to fail, it would fail in Europe first. That assumption is now dead. Today, Europe is the center of the democratic world. The United States is not.
What happened in the Oval Office yesterday was not a normal diplomatic meeting.
It was widely suspected to be an ambush, orchestrated to humiliate President Zelensky and weaken Ukraine’s position. It was designed for Trump’s domestic audience, serving as a rallying point for the MAGA base—a performance, not a policy discussion.
This aligns perfectly with Trump’s America First ideology, which in practice is America Alone—a rejection of alliances in favor of authoritarian unilateralism. But the consequences extend far beyond a single meeting. Trump has now elevated Russia to the status of a primary U.S. ally, placing it above traditional partners like the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, and even NATO itself.
For years, leaders had been saying it in private, diplomats had been warning about it in closed-door discussions, journalists had been piecing it together through anonymous sources.
Now, it is undeniable.
February 28, 2025, was the moment when the world saw it in stark relief—and when Trump’s final betrayal of democracy became clear.
The beneficiaries of this transformation are not the American people, nor democracy itself. They are Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, and Iran’s hardline theocracy—leaders who share no ideology beyond a singular goal: self-preservation at all costs. These autocrats have learned that their survival depends on one thing—helping each other stay in power.
Trump’s alignment with Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s illiberal strongman, is not an accident. It is a roadmap. Orbán transformed Hungary into a pseudo-democracy—where elections still occur, but the press is controlled, courts are co-opted, and opposition is crushed.
Trump is following the same blueprint. The United States, once the beacon of democratic governance, is shifting toward an authoritarian framework that rewards loyalty over law, power over principle.
This is not an oversight—it is a strategy.
And today, Kaja Kallas signaled that Europe has no choice but to move forward without the United States.
This is a fork in the road. If the U.S. reverses course now, it can still reclaim trust. But if it doesn’t, then in five years, NATO may have already realigned without it. The world is watching, but it won’t wait forever.
History warns us of what happens when democracies surrender their principles. The collapse of Weimar Germany showed how a democratic nation, weakened by internal strife and undermined by authoritarian ambitions, can be turned against itself—until the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy become tools for its destruction. Just as Weimar’s failure led to a global catastrophe, the abandonment of democratic principles today is not just an American crisis—it is a warning to the world.
The United States is now at a crossroads. It can fight for its democratic identity, reject the rise of autocracy, and reaffirm its commitment to the rule of law.
Or it can complete its transformation, cementing its place among the very regimes it once opposed.
The world is watching. And what happens next will define the century.
