Speaking in Munich last week, America’s vice-president, J.D. Vance, offered a taste of how the home of fine wines, classical architecture and welfare cheques faces humiliation, when he ridiculed Europe as decadent and undemocratic.

At the end of the Cold War, President George H.W. Bush managed the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe — sometimes overruling regional leaders in the wider interests of the West and their own security. There’s no sign that Trump feels any such affinity for Europe or its future.

Europe is preparing for changes in US foreign policy under a new administration, particularly on Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Washington to urge continued support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fears a settlement favouring Moscow.