'Just say no to Trump'

Democrats put end to tradition of united front

- Patrick Wintour

Donald Trump’s most unbridled critics at this weekend’s Munich Security Conference have not been Europeans but Americans - and not just Democrats. A few Republicans, out of earshot of the US president’s favoured Fox News, have had the courage to challenge Trump’s diet of tariffs and unpredictability.

The criticism ends what little remained of the tradition that the US delegation to the conference limits criticism of the commander-in-chief abroad.

The attacks came thick and fast as Democrats vied to disown Trump, or in the case of Hillary Clinton, a former US secretary of state, to urge Europe that Trump’s chief weapon - perceived unpredictability - can be neutered by consistent pushback.

In the case of Greenland, she said resistance had “worked because a critical mass of our allies said no, not like, ‘We will negotiate, we will do this, we will do that’. There was a well-presented opposition that said no.” Clinton added: “I hope what people are understanding is that unpredictability is uncomfortable, but it is important to arrive at a response and stick with it because that affects whether a leader thinks he can proceed ...