US criticized for influence policy

In an article for Politico, American analyst Laura Thornton, a former expert on combating foreign influence on democracy, expresses her dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's policies. According to the author, easing sanctions on Romania, eliminating USAID, and contacts with far-right parties in Europe are perceived as election interference and support for autocrats. Thornton notes that U.S. partners fear sharing intelligence due to the risk of leaks, including to Russia. She states that the closure of USAID led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and became a 'gift' for Russian and Chinese propaganda, and that 'the U.S. abandoned its allies.' The author emphasizes that American policy has shifted from being a defender of democracy to a transactional approach, where values are replaced by deals.