President Donald Trump spent years telling Europe it couldn’t keep relying on the United States to defend it.

Europe appears to have gotten the message.

Germany is doubling its defense budget over the next four years. NATO members have agreed to work toward spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense. And European governments are cooperating more closely on everything from missile defense to joint weapons procurement.

But Europe isn’t spending more to please Trump. It’s spending because it’s increasingly convinced that the U.S. may no longer be a dependable ally — and that may backfire on the U.S. for decades to come.

The euros are flowing — just not to American defense contractors as much as they once did. As Europe builds its own defense industrial base, Trump’s push for it to shoulder more of its own defense may be undermining two other priorities: expanding American manufacturing and maintaining America’s military and international influence.

Read Lily Becker’s analysis here.

Trump will give a primetime speech Thursday night from the White House. There are some indications that he will discuss the 2020 election and why he believes he didn’t really lose and the renewed fight with Iran. 

Here are some more highlights of the president’s actions over the past seven days:

The news can feel overwhelming. But each week, we pause to highlight a person, organization or movement sticking up for their principles. This week’s challengers are a group of retired judges. 

Generally speaking, judges shy away from politics. Even those that have to run for election tend to campaign in a lower key. But a group of 30 judges, including two former federal judges and two current federal judges, decided that the current moment is different, going on a bus tour to argue that the rule of law is in grave danger in the U.S. right now. The four-day tour, dubbed “Justice in Motion,” made stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. It was put together by the nonpartisan advocacy groups Democracy Rising Collaborative and Keep Our Republic, inspired by a similar campaign in Poland in 2021 after the country’s governing party took control of key judicial institutions. In interviews and speeches, the judges stressed that the U.S. is at a turning point. “Looking back in history, we have teetered,” former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly told The Associated Press. “This is a moment where we can decide to reinstill those beliefs that we are a country of laws and not of men.”

This week on “Clock It,” Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels are joined by Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to discuss the attacks on our nation’s democratic principles ahead of Maryland’s special session this August to focus on redistricting. Listen now and subscribe to MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad-free listening and bonus content.