European politicians and diplomats had already prepared for changes to their relationship with the US in the event of a second Donald Trump presidency.
Now that the Republican candidate has chosen Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate, those differences appear even more stark on prospects for the war in Ukraine, security and trade.
A vocal critic of US aid to Ukraine, Mr Vance told this year’s Munich Security Conference that Europe should wake up to the US having to “pivot” its focus to East Asia.
“The American security blanket has allowed European security to atrophy,” he said.
Mainly it’s Russia’s influencing efforts. Many Western right-wing politicians are in their pockets, their money supports many hard-right parties, and their propaganda directly influences and pushes voters to these parties. So primarily it’s a practical relationship of aligned goals, as Russia’s global activity helps them get more power domestically, so they are more lenient with Russia’s fuckery in e.g. Ukraine.
Secondarily there is a sympathy, as Putin did many things they would like to do domestically, building a white Christian anti-LGBT nation with a strong hand (at least in perception). I also once read an article I couldn’t find now, that explained how in global Christian “church politics”, Russia managed to get very close to and influence US Christian leaders, so that might also have an impact.