As the European Union faces increasing scrutiny from the Trump administration, Isabel Schnabel, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, shared an image of the European Union flag on social media and wrote: “This is our flag. It stands for unity, freedom, peace, democracy, diversity, science, culture and rule of law. We can be even stronger if we foster integration, innovation and sovereignty. Let’s go, Europe!”
MAGA-aligned U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) replied to Schnabel with a GIF of the American flag and wrote: “This is our flag It stands for ‘we’re tired of subsidizing European socialism.’”
This is our flag
It stands for “we’re tired of subsidizing European socialism” https://t.co/D7bEUY2PMI pic.twitter.com/BFr1FtUPHt
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 7, 2025
Musk, the world’s richest man (who holds South African and Canadian citizenship, and is a naturalized U.S. citizen), replied to Lee’s post with two American flag emojis. Lee reiterated his stance: “That’s our flag! Enough EU/EC nonsense.”
[NOTE: The European Union recently fined Elon Musk‘s social media platform X $140 million for several issues including the alleged misleading use of a blue check mark to identify verified users.]
Others on X object to Lee’s initial claim. As Jan Rezab, founder of the Prague-based social media marketing and analytics firm Socialbakers, replied: “Subsidizing? Your tech. companies make hundreds of billions on EU customers… Who is subsidizing what? And a small fine for $0.1B is a problem for you big guys for breaking our laws? EU has laws. Your companies make money. Respect our laws.”
Rezab added about the X blue check: “Elon was fined for basic breaches of transparency and misleading users which leads to more online fraud… Elon should be 100% on the mission of less fraud online.”
For those interested less in headlines about @elonmusk, but about the truth. Elon was fined for basic breaches of transparency and misleading users which leads to more online fraud…
Elon should be 100% on the mission of less fraud online. https://t.co/Z08JoZfj2c
— Jan Rezab (@janrezab) December 7, 2025
Macroeconomics is a complex subject with a nearly infinite number of interrelated parts and functions that render it resistant to the kinds of compact, tidy takes that predominate discussions on social media.
The U.S. provides an enormous market for European goods — a trade situation President Trump has aimed at with his broad tariff agenda — and also provides major funding for NATO, which protects Europe — and the Western alliance, of which the U.S. is considered a part — from incursions.
At the same time, as pointed out below, the U.S. government runs an enormous debt financed largely by U.S. treasuries — which are essentially IOU notes the government writes when it borrows. European nations own nearly $9 trillion — or a quarter — of that debt, which some characterize as Europe “subsidizing” the U.S., rather than the other way around.
On subsidizing
… let’s dump it and see what happens pic.twitter.com/wqbM9W8Gu2 — Tomasz Onyszko (@tonyszko) December 7, 2025
