European leaders are using the wrong strategy to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as the White House’s communications director during Trump’s first term.
“You have to be firm with him. He doesn’t respect people that aren’t. I think you have got to wait him out,” Scaramucci told WELT AM SONNTAG, which, like POLITICO, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network.
Scaramucci described two ways of handling Trump: the Carney approach and the Rutte approach.
“There’s two models of behavior: one is [NATO Secretary-General] Mark Rutte and one is [Canadian Prime Minister] Mark Carney. I think Mark Carney is handling him better. The Canadian people are with him, even if it causes some level of economic hardship,” Scaramucci said.
“Rutte, on the other hand, is making a big mistake. Because when you equivocate or flatter him, when you act in the manner that Mark Rutte has acted, all you’re doing is losing his respect. You’re not gaining anything,” he added.
Rutte has often lauded the U.S. president: “I just like the man. I think what he is doing for NATO is great news,” the military alliance chief said in an interview with POLITICO this summer.
Europe has seemingly yielded to Trump’s wishes on numerous occasions. The EU-U.S. trade deal was criticized as playing in Washington’s favor, while European allies agreed to a 5% of GDP spending target by 2035 at last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, matching Trump’s headline demand.
Carney, by contrast, has been more unwilling to bow to Trump’s pressure. He walked away from U.S. trade talks, saying Ottawa could not accept the offer or the demands — and promised to match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar.
In the interview, Scaramucci also lambasted members of Trump’s own Republican Party. “That is the other side of this story: the cowardice of the political servants that are supposed to check Donald Trump, the members of the Republican Senate caucus and the House caucus,” he said.
He added that lawmakers had failed to speak out against Trump’s decision to waive key provisions of the Russian sanctions law championed by the late South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham.
“They’ve done nothing to speak out against that or to rebuke Trump, even though they could override him,” he said. “This is a case study in what you would call the strong arm tactics. People that believe in authoritarianism operate with levels of intimidation. That’s what Trump has done.”
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