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United States President Donald Trump’s “hasty climbdown” from threats to seize Greenland has “not done much to improve the fraying transatlantic relationship,” according to and European resentment has deepened as the administration continues to “poke politicians and entire populations in the proverbial eye,” according to a new report [ [link removed] ] from Eli Stokols and Clea Caulcutt at Politico.
“A high‑level European official similarly described a ‘change in mindset,’” the report notes, adding that EU leaders are “forced to adopt a violent approach in our relationship with the US administration.”
NATO allies were left “disgusted” after Trump dismissed their sacrifices in Afghanistan, and the US embassy in Denmark removed 44 small Danish flags that honored the Danish who died in Afghanistan. The move fueled protests.
Now, the EU and US are “in a power struggle,” according to the official.
A second official said, “The message, the lack of respect for Europe, that’s been sent.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also warned, “Allies should respect each other, not lecture each other.” Meanwhile, a French diplomat said, “Europeans are going through the fifth stage of grief.”
A fourth European official noted “the swell of opposition to the US,” while Finland’s President Alex Stubb said the US “is changing” and that current foreign policy “is underpinned by an ideology that conflicts with our own values.”
If You Read One More Thing: Trump’s Board of Profit
Trump’s “Board of Peace” has been presented as the vehicle to rebuild Gaza, but reporting shows it functions largely as a conduit for corporate interests and Trump‑aligned financiers, according to Ellen Iaones’s latest [ [link removed] ] at The American Prospect.
The board, chaired by Trump and heavily shaped by Jared Kushner, has been structured to give private companies and wealthy donors extraordinary influence over Gaza’s reconstruction.
Firms with direct financial stakes in Middle East real estate, energy, and security contracts are positioned to benefit from billions in anticipated development deals. Palestinian representation is effectively absent, while US and Israeli business elites dominate planning.
The arrangement has raised concerns that Gaza’s postwar future will be driven not by humanitarian priorities but by investors seeking profit from land, infrastructure, and resource concessions. The board’s opaque governance has further deepened skepticism among regional diplomats and aid organizations.
Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said he thinks “it is nonetheless pretty much unprecedented to have such explicit power exerted by private individuals who are there by virtue of their business interests.”
Epstein Fallout Hits US Commerce Secretary
The Guardian has [ [link removed] ]covered the calls [ [link removed] ] for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign under intensifying pressure after newly unsealed documents related to convicted child sexual offender Jeffery Epstein showed he visited Epstein’s private island in 2012, contradicting his long‑standing claim that he severed ties with the now-deceased pedophile in 2005.
Senators say his testimony “strained credulity,” especially as emails show Epstein telling him, “It was nice seeing you.”
Lutnick, Trump’s longtime friend who has played a pivotal role in tariff policy, has insisted he “barely had anything to do with that person,” but bipartisan critics argue his shifting explanations undermine his credibility at a moment when he oversees the administration’s sweeping tariff program.
Lawmakers have warned that a Commerce Secretary implicated in undisclosed meetings with Epstein could not credibly manage trade policy.
The revelations have fueled calls for him to step down as scrutiny mounts over his conduct. “Really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign,” US Representative Thomas Massie said.
Deep Dive: US Democratic Erosion Imperils Global Human Rights Order
In the Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2026 World Report [ [link removed] ], a section on the United States portrays Trump’s second administration as a period of sweeping democratic erosion and systematic rights violations across nearly every major policy domain. From its opening days, the administration has dismantled civil rights protections, intensified immigration crackdowns, weakened democratic institutions, and withdrawn the US from global human rights leadership. The report argues that these actions collectively represent a historic regression in US rights protections and a decisive turn toward authoritarian governance.
The HRW report, which annually tracks human rights across the globe, opens by stating that Trump’s second term has been marked by “blatant disregard for human rights and egregious violations.” On his first day in office, Trump eliminated all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, triggering a cascade of executive actions that have dismantled civil rights enforcement across federal agencies. The administration has also restructured refugee resettlement to overwhelmingly benefit white South Africans, while simultaneously erasing or downplaying the history of racial injustice in the US. At the same time, it has removed civil rights mechanisms, undermined efforts to address the legacy of slavery, and attempted to suppress the teaching of Black history.
Immigration enforcement has intensified dramatically. ICE and other federal agencies have carried out hundreds of violent raids in homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. The report describes these operations as “unnecessarily violent and abusive,” noting that many are conducted by masked agents. The administration has revoked protections for “sensitive locations,” allowing authorities to carry out arrests in places previously considered off‑limits. It also used the Alien Enemies Act to secretly expel 252 Venezuelans to a Salvadoran maximum‑security prison, where they were tortured before being transferred to Venezuela. Courts have intervened in some cases, blocking the deportation of unaccompanied children and challenging transfers that violate due process and non‑refoulement obligations.
The administration has also deployed National Guard troops to cities led by Democratic mayors, despite falling crime rates. These deployments, framed as responses to “insurrection,” are widely viewed as political shows of force. Protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities were met with violent crackdowns by federal agents and local police. The report argues that these actions, combined with racial scapegoating and retaliation against critics, reflect a broader effort to “expand the coercive powers of the executive and neuter democratic checks and balances.”
Voting rights have similarly come under sustained attack. The administration has attempted to impose proof‑of‑citizenship requirements, shorten mail‑in ballot deadlines, and restrict ballot‑error corrections. House Republicans have advanced the SAVE Act, which includes mandatory documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration. Although courts have blocked some measures, the report warns that similar efforts are expected to return ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Civil society and oversight institutions are also in the crosshairs. The administration has cut university research funding over ideological disputes, restricted government access to certain law firms, threatened the tax‑exempt status of NGOs, and politicized federal agencies by purging independent officials. These moves have weakened the institutional checks that traditionally constrain executive power.
The criminal legal system has seen intensified punitive measures. The administration has sought to increase pretrial incarceration, expand the death penalty in Washington, DC, and drop prosecutions of political allies while targeting perceived opponents. Around the country, police killed an estimated 1,301 people in 2025. Youth incarceration remains high, and the United States continues to be “the only country in the world that sentences children to die in prison.”
Reproductive rights have also deteriorated sharply. States have banned or restricted abortion, and prosecutors have brought hundreds of cases against pregnant people. The administration blocked Planned Parenthood from Medicaid reimbursement, causing more than a million people to lose health‑care coverage. It has frozen funds for family planning and dismantled research into racial inequities in maternal and newborn health.
LGBT rights have also been rolled back through executive actions that redefine sex as assigned at birth, restrict gender‑affirming care, and remove protections for transgender students. Twenty‑seven states have banned gender‑affirming care for youth, and the Supreme Court has upheld these bans.
Environmental protections have been gutted. The United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement, and the EPA has moved to revoke its finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The administration has closed environmental justice offices and slashed budgets, limiting the government’s ability to address pollution disproportionately affecting poor communities and communities of color.
Meanwhile, privacy and technology rights have eroded as the administration centralized sensitive personal data within the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” a move the report says has created opportunities for “mass privacy violations.” ICE has acquired phone‑hacking tools and spyware, and federal agencies now monitor social media to flag people for deportation, particularly for “speech on Palestine issues.”
Foreign policy has witnessed a dramatic retreat from human rights. The administration has terminated nearly all US foreign aid, dismantled USAID, and hollowed out the State Department’s human rights functions. It has expanded sanctions against the International Criminal Court, targeting judges and NGOs. The annual human rights report was “politicized and badly distorted,” omitting key violations and whitewashing abuses by allied governments. The US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization, and the Paris Climate Accords, and withheld UN dues. It has also carried out lethal strikes in the Caribbean that constitute unlawful extrajudicial killings.
HRW concludes that these actions “posed a significant threat to the global human rights framework,” signaling that the United States can no longer be relied upon to uphold international human rights law.
Show Us the Receipts
At Inkstick, Tyler Hicks has looked at [ [link removed] ] Vice President JD Vance’s intent behind repeatedly defending ICE after federal agents killed two people in Minneapolis. Vance has amplified misleading claims and accused protesters of “classic terrorism.” He has argued that local officials, not federal officers, were responsible for “mistakes,” insisting Minneapolis leaders have hindered enforcement. The vice president frames protesters as part of a shadowy left‑wing “network,” a narrative driving federal investigations of Minnesota officials and sweeping terrorism charges against Texas protesters. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor and civil liberties expert at Ohio State University, argues that immigration enforcement is not just a policy priority but the defining issue of the administration, with Vance playing a key role in advancing and normalizing its harshest tactics.
Inkstick fellow Hannah Bowlus [ [link removed] ]has reported [ [link removed] ] on the Air Force’s approval for SpaceX’s plan to launch 100 rockets a year from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Marcy Winograd [ [link removed] ], a member of the Central Coast Anti-War Coalition, said that “instead of retracting and moving in the direction of a peace economy, we are expanding into the surveillance and war industries for billionaires to profit.” SpaceX has secured billions in government contracts and has deployed thousands of satellites, raising concerns about debris, environmental harm, and unchecked intelligence capabilities. Local officials have largely backed the expansion despite economic stagnation in nearby communities. Workers have also alleged dangerous conditions and harassment at SpaceX, prompting lawsuits and federal scrutiny.
At The World, Jamie Fullerton [ [link removed] ]has interviewed [ [link removed] ] the people involved in Albania’s major project to restore and digitize thousands of films produced under Enver Hoxha’s communist government, sparking debate over whether the effort preserves history or risks reviving propaganda. Archivists, funded by the EU, have painstakingly converted 35mm reels and screened newly digitized works to sold‑out audiences in Tirana. Chemical engineer Erma Troqe, who is working to restore the films, says the footage offers a “window” into how “history changed.” Critics warn that broadcasting them could fuel nostalgia for Hoxha’s era.
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Critical State is written by Inkstick Media in collaboration with The World.
The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.
With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”
Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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