The trans-Atlantic alliance is straining under the weight of Donald Trump’s foreign policy whiplash. At the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered a blunt assessment: the rules-based international order is collapsing. Back in Washington, senators left town without funding the Department of Homeland Security, setting up another partial shutdown. And in Minnesota, a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled that ICE violated detainees’ constitutional rights after a deadly enforcement surge that shocked the nation.
The pattern is hard to ignore. America’s standing abroad is slipping, institutions at home are buckling, and the MAGA experiment is colliding with legal and political reality.
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Merz: “This Order No Longer Exists”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Merz did not mince words.
“The international order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed,” he said. “This order, as flawed as it has been even in its heyday, no longer exists in that form.”
He argued that the Trump administration’s rapid reorientation of U.S. foreign policy has challenged, and possibly squandered, America’s claim to global leadership. In a pointed moment, Merz switched from German to English to address Americans directly as “friends,” warning that even the United States cannot “go it alone.”
“In the era of great power rivalry,” he said, “even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone.”
That was more than diplomatic language. It was a plea for sanity in a relationship that has anchored global stability for decades.
Merz also rejected the culture-war politics exported by MAGA allies. Referencing last year’s combative appearance by Vice President JD Vance, Merz made clear that Germany will not import America’s far-right battles.
“The battle of cultures of MAGA in the U.S. is not ours.”
He underscored that in Germany, freedom of speech “ends where the words spoken are directed against human dignity and our Basic Law.” He dismissed tariffs and protectionism, reaffirming support for free trade.
The message to Washington was unmistakable: isolationism and grievance politics weaken the very alliances that keep democracies secure.
DHS Shutdown Standoff
While Europe questions America’s reliability abroad, Washington is failing to function at home.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to lapse, triggering the second partial shutdown this month. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer remain far apart on reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis.
The impasse reflects a broader breakdown in bipartisanship.
A Democratic senator described the atmosphere bluntly: “Everybody hates everybody.” With midterms looming, lawmakers appear more focused on positioning than governing.
Here is the bitter irony. A shutdown would not significantly impact ICE or Customs and Border Protection. Those agencies already received billions from Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. Instead, it would hit FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Secret Service.
Sen. John Fetterman, the only Democrat to vote to advance the funding bill, warned colleagues that the strategy makes little sense.
“Shutting DHS down has zero impact and zero changes for ICE. But it will hit FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA and our Cybersecurity Agency.”
Democrats argue Republicans have refused to meaningfully address ICE’s tactics in Minneapolis. Republicans counter that Democrats are forcing a shutdown to appease their base.
The result is paralysis. Again.
Judge Rebukes ICE Over Constitutional Violations
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the courts delivered a stinging rebuke to the administration’s immigration crackdown.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, appointed by Trump in 2018, ruled that immigration enforcement agencies violated detainees’ constitutional rights by blocking access to lawyers.
Her language was devastating.
“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.”
The case centers on conditions at the Whipple Federal Building in Saint Paul, where detainees were reportedly held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Brasel ordered ICE to grant regular, unmonitored phone access and to notify attorneys and families before out-of-state transfers.
She dismantled the administration’s claim that honoring rights would create “chaos.”
“The United States Constitution—not Whipple’s operational capacity or internal ICE policies—is what sets the floor for reasonable access to counsel.”
This was the 45th ruling against Trump’s mass detention efforts by a judge he nominated. That fact alone undercuts the MAGA narrative that legal resistance is purely partisan.
The law is the law.
America at a Crossroads
From Munich to Minneapolis, the throughline is accountability. European allies are questioning whether Washington still believes in partnership. Senators are locked in trench warfare while basic funding lapses. Federal judges are reminding the executive branch that constitutional rights are not optional.
Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the conference, posed a question that hangs over all of it:
“Does the Trump administration believe, truly believe, that it needs allies and partners?”
That question applies beyond NATO. It applies to Congress. To the courts. To the American people.
Because governing is not a solo act. It requires cooperation, compromise, and respect for institutions. The MAGA project, built on grievance and unilateralism, is running headlong into those realities.
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