Europe is disappointed in America again.
I know. Try to contain your shock.
A recent Salon piece argues that the world has fallen out of love with the United States and that Americans need to come to terms with how negatively much of the globe now views us. Tourism is down. Poll numbers are ugly. Foreigners are giving us side-eye. The implication hangs over the entire article: Americans should probably be worried about what Europe thinks.
It isn’t news to anybody reading this that America’s massive internal fracture, which shows no signs of healing in any of our lifetimes, is leading an increasing number of people with adequate resources and flexible lives to ponder their options. At least three former colleagues of mine have uprooted their families, changed jobs and moved overseas within the last few years. More to the point, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t thought about it.
But what’s really happening, I suspect, is much bigger than a minor demographic shift among a handful of educated libs. It’s more that the deeply ingrained toxin of American narcissism — the conviction, long shared across nearly the full range of political opinion, that this is an exceptional or “indispensable” nation, endowed by God or history or Thomas Jefferson with a unique destiny — has begun to fade.
That creed is certainly still part of the ideological atmosphere in this country, but multiple generations of Americans since the 1960s have grown up surrounded by contrary evidence. Despite the defensive proclamations of country music stars and the willful naïveté of mainstream Democrats, I have a hard time believing that anyone under 60 really, truly believes that anymore. (Or at least believes it for non-terrifying reasons.) The entire premise of the MAGA movement, after all, is that America used to be awesome, and that some version of a primitive fascist dictatorship can bring that back. – Salon.com
Maybe I’m missing something, but since when did foreign approval become America’s national mission statement?
America is a country, not an exchange student. We are not here to collect gold stars from Brussels, impress Paris, or spend our days refreshing the global approval ratings. If the rest of the world has opinions about America, they’re certainly entitled to them. The real question is why so many Americans seem desperate for the validation.
America Is Not Running For Prom Queen
The article treats foreign opinion like a national report card. If tourism declines or Europeans express disappointment, Americans are supposed to view that as evidence of failure. That assumption deserves a closer look.
Countries are not people. Nations do not exist to be liked. They exist to protect their citizens, defend their interests, and preserve their way of life. Popularity can be nice when it happens, but it is a strange thing to build a national identity around.
The United States spent much of the twentieth century hearing complaints from allies and adversaries alike. Europeans criticized American culture. They criticized American foreign policy. They criticized American military spending. They criticized American capitalism. Somehow, the republic survived every one of those lectures.
Today, the criticism continues, but many Americans seem more eager than ever to absorb it. Every international poll becomes a therapy session. Every foreign newspaper headline becomes a reason to panic. At some point, it is fair to ask why Americans are so desperate for validation from people who do not live here, vote here, or bear the consequences of our decisions.
Bessent: “Many people have said to me, ‘Are you surprised the market has gone up on bad news?’ I say, I don’t think the news is that bad. I think the news is bad. The quality of the reporting. The anti-Americanism. People are so anti-President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/R6m5tD4O0R
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 31, 2026
America Has Never Been Universally Loved
One of the biggest weaknesses in the Salon argument is the suggestion that America once enjoyed some glorious period of global affection that has now disappeared.
When exactly was that?
Large parts of the world protested Ronald Reagan. Large parts of the world protested George W. Bush. Large parts of the world protested Barack Obama when drone strikes expanded. Donald Trump inspired international outrage. Joe Biden faced criticism over Afghanistan and other foreign policy decisions.
America has been controversial for decades because America is powerful. Powerful nations attract criticism in a way that smaller countries do not. That reality is not evidence of decline. It is often evidence of influence.
The article frames anti-American sentiment as proof that something has gone terribly wrong. Sometimes criticism reveals genuine problems. Sometimes it simply reflects disagreements over policy. Those are not the same thing.
If America Is So Awful, Why Does Everyone Keep Coming?
This is the question the article never seriously addresses.
Americans are told that the world is losing interest in the United States. Yet millions of people still dream of studying here, working here, investing here, or building a life here. American universities remain magnets for international students. American companies attract talent from around the globe. American culture still dominates movies, music, technology, and entertainment.
None of that means America is perfect. It means reality is more complicated than the story being told.
A country can be criticized and still be attractive. A nation can have serious problems and still offer opportunities people cannot easily find elsewhere. The continued demand to live, work, and succeed in America suggests that reports of our global irrelevance may be slightly exaggerated.
The Real Story Is American Insecurity
The most interesting part of the article is not that Europeans have opinions about America. Europeans have had opinions about America for decades. They have opinions about our food, our politics, our military, our culture, and probably our choice of breakfast cereal.
What fascinates me is how seriously some Americans take those opinions.
A certain class of Americans seems permanently worried about disappointing Europe. If a French newspaper disapproves, they panic. If a German poll shows declining confidence in the United States, they start drafting apology letters. If some international think tank gives America a bad grade, they treat it like a family emergency.
It’s the same group of people who hate America. And people like the author of that Salon article.
That creates a strange way of looking at the world. Instead of asking whether a policy benefits Americans, they ask whether it will upset people who do not live here. Instead of debating what serves the national interest, they worry about how it will play in Brussels, Berlin, or Paris.
That is not confidence. A confident country listens to criticism and moves on. This feels more like a kid checking the stands to see whether the cool table approves.
Europe Can Keep The Report Card
Europe is free to criticize America. Canada is free to criticize America. The rest of the world is free to criticize America too.
That has never been the issue.
The issue is whether Americans should organize their national priorities around earning better approval ratings overseas. The answer is no.
A healthy nation listens to criticism when it is useful and ignores it when it is not. It does not spend its life chasing validation. It does not need permission slips. It does not need gold stars.
The Salon article asks whether Americans are finally ready to accept how the world sees them.
I think a better question is whether Americans are finally ready to stop obsessing over it.
America has enough challenges without turning itself into a giant people-pleaser. The rest of the world can have its opinions. America can have its future.
Feature Image: AI-generated illustration.
