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Hello and welcome to Newsare. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London.

I'm Tim Franks. We're beginning with what appears to be the clearest evidence of a schism,

a really fundamental break between the US and Europe.

The evidence of this, well, you could say it's just words at the moment,

and yet when those words are spoken by the President of the United States

and when they come off the back of repeated recent lashings from very senior officials,

and indeed from the just-published US National Security Strategy,

then perhaps it is worth us taking those words seriously.

In an interview with the Politico News website today,

President Trump described European nations as decaying.

He said they were led by weak people who were destroying their countries, in large part, because of their failure to control immigration.

All of which chimed with his administration's new national security strategy,

which warned that Europe was heading for civilizational erasure and that it was in the US's interest too, as the document

put it, cultivate resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations.

All of which prompted this question from Politico's White House Bureau Chief, Dasher Burns.

One country that is pleased with the change in strategy from the United States is Russia,

a Kremlin spokesperson called the strategy document a, quote, positive step and said the adjustments

they're seeing are, quote, largely consistent with Moscow's vision. Do you think that's a good thing?

Well, I think he'd like to see a weak Europe. And so, you know, to be honest with you, he's getting that. That has nothing to do with me. But he thinks the changes that you're making and what you laid out in your vision for Europe is what Moscow wants to see. I have no vision for Europe. All I want to see is a strong Europe. Look, I have a vision for the United States, America first. It's make America great again. I do explain to Europe because I think, you know, I'm supposed to be a very smart person. I can, I have eyes. I have ears. I have knowledge. I have vast knowledge. I see what's happening. I get reports that you will never see.

And I think it's horrible what's happening to Europe. I think it's endangering Europe as we know it.

Europe could be a whole different place.

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