To Europe, our allies and partners: “We’ll emerge from the Trump presidency!”
100 Days of Donald Trump. 100 days during which the foundations of the American rule of law and independent institutions have been challenged like never before. So, what’s going on in the so-called land of freedom? How much damage is President Trump – and his “Make America Great Again” movement – doing to democracy? Is the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787 and still the oldest written constitution in force today, robust enough to withstand these pressures? And from a European perspective: What does all this mean for us – for the many decades of economic and security alliances between the “Old World” and the “New World”? To explore these questions, Sven Lilienström, founder of the Faces of Democracy initiative, spoke with top U.S. diplomat Ned Price.
Ned Price, 29th Spokesman for the United States Department of State | © Ned Price
Mr. Price, for the past eight years, we at Faces of Democracy have started every interview with the same question: What do democracy and democratic values mean to you personally?
Ned Price: Democracy is a form of government, but it is so much more than that. To me, it really signifies a commitment not to the government, not to any particular leader or political party, but to the individual: to the individual himself or herself, as well as to the individual as a collective, the people of any given country.
It is a commitment to their inalienable rights, to their ability to shape the society in which they live. It is a commitment to them that society will uphold basic principles and tenets such as the rule of law as well as universal liberties like freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and thought. For years, these basic ideas have been the pillar of our democratic societies.
To me, democracy is really the cornerstone of what we enjoy in our own societies, what we need to protect.
Moreover, these principles connect us on a broader level, at the international level, and they are what unites countries like the United States and Germany. These ideas serve to connect the United States with our long-standing allies and partners. Beyond that, they are the very principles which people who don’t have the great luxury of living in a democracy aspire to achieve. All over the world, people hope to attain these principles one day in their own societies through a process of democratization and through governmental change.
So to me, democracy is really the cornerstone of what we enjoy in our own societies, what we need to protect, and what unites fellow democracies and those who aspire to enjoy the same rights we do.
Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has consistently tested the limits of the American legal system. Do you believe he is trying to dismantle democracy as we know it? Is U.S. democracy under threat?
Ned Price: I am not sure whether President Trump is strategic enough to have grand ambitions to dismantle American democracy. I also do not know if he cares enough about American democracy to try to do that. That seems to be precisely the challenge. President Trump doesn’t cherish democratic principles and the tenets of our democratic society in the way his fellow Americans do and the way in which those who have the luxury of living in fellow democracies also do. He cares about one thing, and that is his own power, his own ability to get his way. If that requires undermining, tarnishing, or even tearing down certain democratic structures or undermining democratic norms, he won’t hesitate to do it.
President Trump cares about one thing, and that is his own power, his own ability to get his way!
You’re absolutely right that so many of our democratic institutions and democratic norms are under threat, if not under attack. Regardless of his intentions, whether he is doing this strategically or whether this is just a by-product of his desire to accumulate power, it’s incumbent on all of us to protect these institutions to make clear that as Americans, as democrats the world over, these things matter to us, and we’re not going to let go of them. We’re certainly not going to let go of them easily.
Speaking of democracy: Despite the looming threat of a constitutional crisis, we’re hearing surprisingly little from US Democrats – especially in Germany – or even from typically outspoken voices in Hollywood. Why are American liberals staying so quiet?
Ned Price: I think that’s changing, or at the very least starting to change. We’ve heard leading voices from our Congress, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, from those both in office or running for office around this country. They are beginning to address in different but important and meaningful ways the challenge that our democracy currently faces from President Trump and his administration.
Now that we are more than 100 days into this administration, there has been an awakening. I hope that continues!
The institutions that have been pillars of our democracy over decades or even longer are showing their resilience and their strength, perhaps not to the full extent we might like right away, but we’ve seen something of an awakening from our universities, from our law firms, and from at least some of our media outlets. These organizations are recognizing the challenge that they face in the important moment that we’re in. I think your question reflects on the fact that for many of these individuals and institutions, President Trump’s electoral victory, and especially his ability to win the popular vote this time, came as a surprise. Initially, in the first days and even weeks, I believe there was a hesitation to be full-throated about what we believe and what we cherish about our democratic society.
Now that we are more than 100 days into this administration, there has been an awakening. I hope that continues. It is up to all of us to be part of that awakening going forward.
For decades – more precisely since the end of World War II – the U.S. has been viewed as the world’s leading power. But U.S. foreign policy is changing. Should Europe begin to “emancipate” itself from American influence? Who will ensure Europe’s security in future?
Ned Price: There is going to be a tendency not only in Europe, but also among our allies and partners in other regions, including the Indo-Pacific, to potentially go their own way and to chart their own course separate from the United States. That tendency is perfectly understandable given the unpredictability of American leadership in the current moment. However, I hope Europeans and our allies and partners around the world recognize that America is more resilient than any one administration, and that America will, in some form or fashion, be back. It may not be precisely the America that Joe Biden left behind in 2021. It will be somewhat changed. And so I would encourage our European partners not to attempt to move on wholesale without America.
I would encourage our European partners not to attempt to move on wholesale without America.
When we are united – whether it’s in terms of what we aspire to achieve politically, diplomatically, economically or in terms of our shared values – we are so much more powerful than when we are acting alone. That applies whether it’s the United States acting alone, whether it’s any single European country acting alone, or whether that is even the European Union itself acting as a bloc. When all of these components act together with a single voice and row in the same direction, we are always going to be able to achieve so much more together.
We’ll emerge from the Trump presidency!
It would therefore be a real shame if any countries or even blocks of countries sought to move on wholly and completely without the United States. We’ll emerge from the Trump presidency. And at that time, we’ll be able to do so much more if we’re able to act together as we have for so many decades in the past.
During the Biden administration, you served as spokesperson for the U.S. State Department and as Senior Adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. What is your assessment of the proposed peace plan for Ukraine? Is it a real opportunity, or just a dictated peace?
Ned Price: It’s important that we distinguish between a ceasefire and a just and durable peace. What we have to seek is the latter. We have to seek a just and durable peace because only peace can reinforce the very principles that United States and Europe and so many of our allies and partners have fought for, quite literally, and sought to protect over the course of many decades now, certainly since the end of World War II.
It’s important that we distinguish between a ceasefire and a just and durable peace. What we have to seek is the latter.
If this is nothing more than an imposed ceasefire, it will really undermine these very principles: the idea that big countries cannot and should not bully small countries, that powerful countries can’t redraw borders by force. The idea that might cannot make right or might cannot equate right. If Vladimir Putin is essentially rewarded with a ceasefire which hands over to him all or nearly all of the land that he has attempted to seize and annex, whether since 2022 or 2014, these principles will be undermined and perhaps even destroyed.
Worse yet, such an outcome will only incentivize people like Vladimir Putin to continue. And this is a threat that goes well beyond Europe. It goes far beyond Putin’s ambitions regarding the Baltics or countries like Moldova or Georgia. It extends into the Indo-Pacific where other dictators and would-be dictators including President Xi are eyeing quite closely Taiwan, disputed maritime features in the South China and the East China seas.
Rewarding Vladimir Putin would have profound implications the world over!
Rewarding Vladimir Putin would have profound implications the world over. It wouldn’t be to our benefit, and it certainly wouldn’t be to Ukraine’s benefit, nor to the benefit of any peace-loving democratic societies the world over.
Diversity of opinion has always been one of democracy’s core pillars. Yet the Associated Press (AP) was temporarily denied access to the White House. Are you concerned about freedom of the press in your country?
Ned Price: It’s impossible not to be concerned given some of what we’ve seen and some of the trends that we’ve observed over the course of this administration. And I’m concerned about it in two ways. Number one is the example you cited: the efforts of this administration quite literally to bar access or to shape access, or to in many ways control the reporting and information that emanates from the White House and what the American people are able to learn about our own government.
But I think there may be even more pernicious force out there. That is this idea of self-censorship, and something we’ve seen especially from media conglomerates, namely news gathering institutions that are owned by larger corporations which may have business before the Trump administration. There exists a real potential for their coverage to be shaped by the desires and the prerogatives of their corporate overseers. We’ve begun to see indications even in some of our most renowned reporting institutions that corporate interests are overtaking the basic principles of news gathering and reporting. This includes the right of the public to know, and the fact that reporters should be able to gather and report the news without fear or favor.
We’ve begun to see indications that corporate interests are overtaking the basic principles of news gathering and reporting.
If corporate interests and broader interests are able to override these long-standing principles, it will really chip away at our First Amendment which protects the freedom of information in this country and the freedom of expression as well.
Mr. Price, our final question is a personal one: What are your future political plans and what are your hopes for the U.S. – especially in the period following the presidential election in November 2028?
Ned Price: I have spent my professional life as a public servant. It’s what I have always sought to do and it’s only been during the last Trump administration when I wasn’t able to do it inside government and during this Trump administration as well. My aspirations are to become a public servant once again. Just as I didn’t quite know what that would look like in 2017 at the outset of the first Trump administration, I don’t quite know what that will look like today in 2025 at the beginning of the second Trump administration.
I do know that there is no greater service than working for and on behalf of the American people!
However, I do know that there is no greater service and there is no greater personal and professional reward than working for and on behalf of the American people. For me, that reward is greatest when working in the realms of foreign policy and national security.
So, over the next four years, I am going to do everything I can to help set the stage for the return of an administration that mirrors the interests and values of the American people and which also reflects the interests and values of peoples around the world with whom we share foundational beliefs.