Standing before the Acropolis in Athens earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the West’s story “the greatest story ever known to man”. But didn’t Hollywood tell us the greatest story ever told was that of Jesus of Nazareth?
The decisions of the coming decade, Rubio said, “will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline”. Under US President Donald Trump, “we choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power”. Behind the classical backdrop is an old idea brought back to life: a single West running unbroken from Plato to Nato. It hides more than it explains what Washington wants.
In this updated “grand narrative” of Western civilisation – which might more accurately be renamed “from Plato to Trump”, considering how much he despises Europe and Nato – the West must be led by a Washington that is superior to the rest.