maybe unpopular take but Europeans freaking out because of how important the US is to, say, European defense should spend less attention on Newsom and more on planning to make European defense less dependent on the US /regardless/ of who wins
Actually I was in BXL in April & met w/a lot of EU ppl from parliament to Commission. I didn't find that much fear. Dislike, distaste, irritation, annoyance. But I did find ppl were preparing. For 🇽🇰 🇺🇦they know what they're going to do. It's whether 🇷🇺 gets emboldened & whether 🇭🇺🇸🇰 can be managed.
We're not just freaking out about defence though. We're freaking out about the collapse of the USA as a touchstone of democracy. About the international network of far right reactionaries funded by an ascendant US Conservative movement.