“Build a wall! Build a wall!” This chant is echoed throughout the room at every single MAGA rally across the United States. The call for a wall between the United States and Mexico remains popular among-st Republican voters, even though such a wall will in all likelihood never be built.
But, there is one wall will be built. Indeed, it is currently in the process of being built right now. There is currently a wall being built across the North Atlantic Ocean being Europe and the United States.
Now, of course, no actual wall is being built across the ocean. But, slowly but surely, cultural differences between Europe and United States are causing schisms that will make these two Western powerhouses go from being allies to bitter enemies.
The main issue that is driving this is globalization and cultural integration. Due to a history of allowing immigration to the country, the United States has had more of an open mind towards globalization, while Europe has had more of a backlash to the idea of a globalization.
Now, due to the invention of containerized shipping and, more importantly, the internet, globalization is here to stay, whether the Europeans like it or not. And due to this ultra-competitive global world, if you do not embrace globalism and change, and insist on clinging to tradition, you will fall behind and cease to exist very quickly. Indeed, Europe is starting to slump in the world as the amount of innovation and new startup companies on the continent is dramatically
But, arguably, the bigger issue that will divide Europe is the issue of cultural integration, and the migrant crisis.
Now, here I have to state the obvious: Europe is not the United States. And the reason I have to state this is primarily due to right-wing European reactionary political commentators on the supposed dangers of allowing Muslims into your country.
However, unlike Europe, the United States has a history of successfully assimilating migrants into their country, which is why you never see a lot of American Muslims being recruited into Islamic terrorist groups.
There are many reasons why cultural integration has worked in the United States but not in Europe. First, immigrant neighborhoods in the United States are often times not walled off and excluded from the rest of society. But, arguably, the biggest reason is that Americans, unlike Europeans, have no national identity to fall back on.
This means that while Europe shifts further to the right, America will shift further to the left. And ultimately these differences will result in a European-American split as big as the ocean that separates them.
Now, these are cultural differences, yet not enough to make Europeans and Americans detest each other, at least, not at first. But, ultimately, the attitudes of American culture that make the United States more open to the idea of globalism will make the United States the symbol of globalism, the institution that Europeans have come to reject. This will ultimately make the Europeans come to view the Americans as an adversary and want to move away from the Americans and pursue their own policy.
But, what affect would this split have for the United States? Well, one of the main geopolitical objectives of the United States is to keep Europe at peace, as the United States has a long history of being sucked into European affairs whether it wants to or not. Such a split may result in Europe collapsing into conflict again, which is why the United States has been so keen on keeping the EU in place.
So, Trump can chant “Build that wall” as much as he wants, but this particular wall will be one the Americans cannot afford to have built.
