Donald Trump took the stage at the United Nations.
In his trademark inside-voice-that’s-actually-a-yell, the President of the United States announced that Europe was “going to hell” unless it changed its immigration policies.
The man has many talents — including bankruptcy, self-promotion, and turning world leaders into unwilling extras in his reality show — but clairvoyance isn’t always one of them.
Again, on this occasion, he may have stumbled into something obvious, but only almost.
Europe is not going to Hell in some far-away future, it is already halfway down the fiery escalator, luggage in tow. Something that has been said on many occasions, in many forms, including here.
Take Britain, where London’s latest anti-immigration rally brought more people to streets as any football game or BREXIT protest. Flags were waving and hundreds of thousands were marching. Their message was clear: they want their country back.
Spain, the last bastion of European socialists, where the government is still pro-immigration?
A local brawl in Torre-Pacheco escalated into weeks of violence, with far-right groups turning “neighborhood watch” into “neighborhood war.” If Dante were alive, he’d have to create a new circle just for provincial Spanish towns where immigration policy gets debated with Molotov cocktails.
In the Netherlands, police used water cannons and tear gas to calm anti-immigration protesters in The Hague. Dutch citizens have started their own DIY boarder checks to stop illegal immigration. Protest follows protest because asylum inflows are putting a strain on housing, social rental housing, and local services. Quite an astonishing development for a country as peaceful as its tulip fields.
Here’s the inconvenient part few people like to admit in Europe.
Donald Trump wasn’t the first to predict doom and gloom caused by illegal immigration.
Hungary saw this train coming a decade ago.
Back then, and for years to come, Viktor Orbán’s government was mocked for fencing off its borders and insisting that uncontrolled migration would fracture Europe.
Brussels rolled its eyes and called it illegal or anti-EU and later remained silent. Local politicians call it “reelection strategy.” Western leaders tutted about “values.”
Well, until first Warsaw joined Budapest, and then more governments quietly borrowed the Hungarian playbook.
Fast forward, and the very debates ripping through London, Madrid, The Hague, and Berlin are exactly what Budapest warned about. Orbán wasn’t “warmongering” — he was predicting exactly this.
And now, like it or not, many governments are quietly following the Hungarian script. Even if Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pretends being shocked by the extent of the problem.
Newsflash: if you ignore a fire long enough, don’t be surprised if half the block burns down.
Of course, Trump’s sermon leaves out some pesky details.
Migration flows aren’t a European hobby: they’re fueled by wars, climate disasters, and global instability. Walls can slow movement, but they don’t erase reality.
Even if Europe has turned migration into the continent’s favorite pastime: shouting, marching, and hosing each other down with water cannons, the continent’s real headache isn’t just who crosses the border: it’s that every policy, whether hard or soft, sparks a protest the size of a football match in the societies fractured by deep divisions.
This happens when a problem was not managed starting from the very beginning. When politicians lived in a different world as their citizens, sealed off hermetically in their ivory towers.
So, is Europe “going to hell”?
Not exactly.
It’s more accurate to say it built a roundabout at the gates and has been circling for years, arguing over who gets the right of way. Hungary was the driver yelling, “Exit here before it’s too late!” Most of the others laughed, ignored the warning signs, and now they are shocked that the gas tank is low and the engine is on fire.
Trump, as usual, delivered the tabloid version: loud, simplistic, and designed for applause.
Hungary, for all its flaws, offered the unglamorous early warning.
And Europe, true to form, will continue debating whether the flames are cozy or catastrophic until the smoke alarms drown out the speeches.
Trump already started cleaning up his own backyard.
And Europe? Europe is still debating roadmaps.
The devil may or may not be waiting at the end of the road. But if he is, he’s probably Hungarian — and muttering, “Told you so.”
