The Trump administration’s values in Eastern Europe: shielding accused rapists and sex traffickers, elevating a lunatic, and pillaging Ukraine’s rare earth minerals

U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivered a stern lecture on democratic values and principles to Europeans on Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

„The biggest threat to Europe, in my view, is not Russia, not China, nor any other external actor. What concerns me most is the threat from within—the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States,” Vance declared, brimming with principles.

What wasn’t visible, however, was that while the American vice president was giving Europe a failing grade in democracy, President Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell (former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and key Trump ally), was undermining the rule of law in a country that Vance had just denounced for canceling elections. Without a shred of hesitation, Trump’s envoy lobbied Romania’s Foreign Minister, Emil Hurezeanu, in the hallways of the Munich conference to secure favors for two criminals facing trial in Romania for human trafficking, rape, and organized crime.

The prestigious Financial Times revealed that the Trump administration is pressuring Romania to lift restrictions on the Tate brothers—Andrew and Tristan Tate—and return their passports so they can travel freely. Andrew Tate, however, remains under house arrest in a case involving the alleged sexual exploitation of 34 women. The new U.S. administration is thus demanding that the Romanian government blatantly interfere in the judicial process to benefit two individuals who aided Trump during his election campaign. How does high-level political interference on behalf of two suspects accused of rape and sex trafficking align with the grand principles JD Vance so loudly championed at the Munich conference?

Another Trump administration figure, Elon Musk, took to Twitter on Tuesday to amplify a post about Călin Georgescu, a Romanian nationalist politician, and his announcement that he would ban the Soros network in Romania on his first day as president. „Romania deserves its own sovereignty,” Musk commented on the post about Georgescu. This marks the fourth time that Musk—who plays an influential role in Trump’s inner circle—has posted about Romania’s elections, a country he otherwise likely couldn’t place on a map. What he does know is that somewhere in this world, in a small country, there is a demagogue as grandiose as Trump, speaking the same political language.

This is their era—the era of unhinged yet charismatic figures who seduce masses disoriented by social media, stripped of a moral compass. Today, they ride the waves of anger and resentment sweeping across both Europe and America. To these disoriented followers, one can preach endlessly about religion, conservative values, and family—while at the same time paying off a porn star with $100,000, as Trump did, and no one will care. Likewise, these lost souls can be sold grandiose tales of democracy and the rule of law while their leaders work behind the scenes to shield rapists and traffickers from justice—Vance and Grenell being prime examples. And none of their supporters will ever hold them accountable.

The MAGA faithful have long since stopped thinking for themselves. In Romania, supporters of Călin Georgescu live under the spell of modern-day political illusionists. This new revolutionary class believes that their TikTok Messiah will multiply fish and bread for them—but the miracle doesn’t even have to happen anymore. It’s enough that they have something to dream about with their eyes wide open.

Then comes the great paradox of the Trump administration: championing sovereignty for nationalist movements (like Georgescu in Romania and the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD) while simultaneously denying other nations their own sovereignty—such as Canada and Greenland. How do Romania’s pro-Trump nationalists or Europe’s far-right extremists reconcile this glaring contradiction? How do Musk and Trump decide which countries deserve sovereignty and which are up for sale?

One possible answer: natural resources. If your country lacks valuable rare earth minerals, you’re free to be sovereign. If you have them, you will be bought—or conquered.

That is precisely what is happening to Ukraine before our very eyes. The Spectator reports that the Trump administration’s first demands have not been directed at aggressors but at victims. There is no record of Trump conditioning his peace talks with Putin on anything significant. However, we do know for certain that he sent his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, to Ukraine with an extraordinary request.

Bessent presented a document to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for signing, which would grant the U.S. rights to half of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals—resources worth trillions of dollars—as repayment for the weapons provided by the Biden administration.

„It’s like inviting a struggling friend to a free dinner, only to later hand them a bill far greater than the cost of the meal,” observes The Spectator.

The new Trump administration is treating the U.S. as a giant commercial enterprise, conducting global affairs as a trader rather than as a state guided by ethics and responsibilities. Perhaps Carl von Clausewitz’s famous assertion is true: great powers have no morals, only interests. But in that case, it would be far more honest if Vice President JD Vance spared us his grandiloquent speeches about democratic values and the rule of law.

It would be enough to let Musk fawn over Georgescu, allow Trump’s envoy to bargain for Washington’s preferred pimps, and let the Treasury Secretary extract the highest price possible for peace in Ukraine. That, for now, sums up the values of the Trump administration in Eastern Europe. If this trajectory continues, the United States will rapidly lose its moral authority in Europe and beyond. It will cease to be an aspirational model and forfeit its power to inspire.

It would be a tragedy for the great American democracy—once a beacon for generations—to collapse into a purely transactional state, merely mimicking democratic values and principles while hiding behind an authoritarian mask.