skip to main content

Behind the Story: US troops in Europe and Christians in the White House

US President Donald Trump has said his administration is looking at reducing the number of US troops in Germany and other European countries.

His remarks came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Iranians were humiliating the US in the talks and that the country had no strategy when it comes to ending the war with Iran.

Euronews correspondent Shona Murray told Behind the Story that removing US troops from Europe is not as easy as it sounds as "the troops and the bases are embedded in German society – they're there for over 70 years".

"The idea would be if you’re going to withdraw troops, you maybe give 10, 15 or 20 years notice," she said.

"You do it very gradually so that other European troops can fill those places."

The US administration under Trump in 2020 had also threatened to withdraw US troops from Europe, but Congress blocked the move and the policy was later rescinded by President Joe Biden.


Christianity in the White House

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth hit the headlines recently when he read a prayer he said was given to him by a US serviceman - although it was widely recognised as having similarities to a well-known scene in the film, Pulp Fiction.

Professor in Ecclesiology at Trinity College Dublin, Massimo Faggioli, discusses the different denominations of Christianity that are working and influencing policy in the White House.

Prof Faggioli says the Hegseth 'prayer’ is a worrying one.

"I was, on the one hand, shocked because he is a person in a position of very high responsibility," he said.

"But that has been pretty consistent in the messaging of the Trump administration about the reconstruction of America, selling Christianist ideology."

Prof Faggioli said it is "worrying sign" of how religion is being used by the Trump government.

He said many voices with fundamentalist views are now "made mainstream by Trumpism".

Prof Faggioli said members of President Trump’s cabinet seem to be trying to 'out-Christianise’ each other.

"All of them have positioned themselves in different ways – no one has contradicted Donald Trump, no one has contradicted Pete Hegseth," he said.

"This has become part of an internal game of who is out-Christianised who."


You can listen to Behind the Story on the RTÉ Radio Player.

You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.