Damaged Goods

Greg Rushford | February 20, 2026

“The world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics,” began the Munich Security Report 2026, setting the stage as the world’s national security elites convened in the vibrant southern German city some 30 miles north of the Bavarian Alps. “Sweeping destruction --- rather than careful reforms and policy corrections --- is the order of the day.” For anyone too dense to get it, the Munich report pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump as “the most prominent of the demolition men” who have been busy destroying the “US-led post-1945 international order.”

The report (painfully) detailed Trump’s persistent machinations --- in the face of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine --- to negotiate a “peace” deal that would favor the aggressor. It further documented the Trump-Musk-Rubio wrecking-ball that has decimated U.S. foreign aid, which is (predictably) inflicting a “rising” human toll --- deaths --- upon the world’s most vulnerable. Plus, Trump’s legally- and economically fraught 1930s-style tariff wars of aggression against nearly everyone.

The Munich report further noted Trump’s perpetually shrill contributions to global “populist disinformation campaigns” that have been especially targeting western democracies --- varieties of information warfare that were once mainly associated with Moscow’s intelligence services. In sum: Uncle Sam --- long a beloved democratic model --- is now regarded as damaged goods.

This is not just elitism in play. As the non-partisan European Council on Foreign Relations also bluntly noted in a survey released earlier this month, most Europeans no longer believe that America is “an ally.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to smooth things over on Feb. 14 by wishing Europe a Maga version of a Happy Valentine. “We gather as members of a historic alliance that saved and changed the world,” Rubio noted, to some applause. “We are part of one civilization – Western civilization,” he declared, pointing to “shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, ancestry,” and so on. “All this,” Rubio insisted, is threatened by “an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies.”

(A fair translation: America’s senior diplomat was inferring that white Christian civilization on both sides of the Atlantic is threatened by dark-skinned hordes who will never assimilate.)

As Gideon Rachman observed in the Financial Times on Feb. 15, “a single speech cannot repair the damage done over the past year.” Europe’s relations with America will continue to “widen and deepen,” he forecast. Despite Rubio’s attempted soft diplomatic touch, Rachman further added, he will never persuade European democratic leaders to “embrace the blood-and-soil nationalism championed by the Maga movement.”

Essentially confirming that, Rubio flew to Budapest to meet with Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban on Feb. 16, where he stressed that Trump is “deeply committed” to supporting Orban’s political fortunes in upcoming parliamentary elections. US-Hungarian relations, Rubio stressed, are entering a “golden era.”

(On Valentine’s Day, as Rubio was speaking softly in Munich, Orban was saying loudly in Budapest that European democracies, not Russian aggression, are the main threat to “those who love freedom” --- the same line that Vice President J.D. Vance used when he shocked the audience at last year’s Munich Security Conference.)

European diplomatic circles are well-aware that American Maga diplomats are constantly undermining them on many fronts. One prime example: Sarah Rogers, Rubio’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, “has arguably become the public face of the Trump administration’s growing hostility to European liberal democracies,” as the Guardian has put it. Rogers has been cultivating close Maga ties with Germany’s far-right AfD, the UK’s Reform party, and other extremists across Europe. The Guardian further highlighted Rogers’ unsettling social-media posts that have characterized migrants in Germany as “barbarian rapist hordes,” plus attacks attempting to connect Sweden’s immigration policy to sexual violence.

Meanwhile, in France, Maga has good connections with Marine Le Pen’s right-wing Rassemblement National party. Neither the RN nor Maga is much interested in countering disinformation, particularly of the Russian variety.

In recent weeks, “pro-Russian networks and Trump-aligned accounts have increasingly targeted France,” as the influential Paris-based daily Le Monde has reported in depth.

One particularly nasty Russian disinformation effort this month involved a fabrication claiming that corrupt senior French and Ukrainian officials have diverted some $2.3 billion that had been intended to purchase 100 French Rafale fighter jets. But this fictitious scandal went largely “unnoticed,” Le Monde observed, because France has been “preoccupied with multiple fabrications coming from Donald Trump” and other Maga information warriors.

Many of the falsehoods have emanated from Trump’s own Truth Social daily fountain of mischief. Meanwhile, the the fictitious Rafale corruption scandal was highlighted on Qactus.fr, a pro-Trump site known for conspiracy theories. (On Valentine’s Day, Qactus broke an “UNBELIEVABLE” story --- on how French President Macron, speaking in Munich, had denigrated his country.)

European leaders are busily working on forging new security- and intelligence-sharing arrangements to ensure their mutual defense in the face of American indifference. Stay tuned.

Greg Rushford is a former congressional aide who conducted intelligence oversight, and a former Washington journalist. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 390 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.