Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden: “This is the end of the West as we know it.”

“If you listen to what Donald Trump has been saying during and before his campaign, this is the end of the West as we know it.

“For more than half a century, this story of phenomenal success has been built on a commitment to freedom and democracy, free trade, solid alliances and reliable friendships.

“But all of this has been either attacked or questioned by Trump. And no part of the success of the West has been more important than the success of Europe under the protection of and in a strong relationship with the United States.

“When Trump receives the jubilant British anti-Europe campaigner Nigel Farage before seeing other foreign politicians, he is sending the worst possible signal to Europe. By design or by default, he transmits a signal of support to those dark forces in various countries trying to undo what generations of U.S. and European statesmen have worked to achieve.”

– Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, writing in The Washington Post.