This is not breaking news, but our president is a moron who will never stop humiliating and endangering our country and our people for as long as he is allowed to continue to serve in office.
His meeting with Angela Merkel could hardly have gone worse, and there are many things to choose from to demonstrate this. But his fundamental lack of understanding of the NATO alliance is probably the most important thing to focus on:
Despite his endorsement of NATO, Trump reiterated his campaign-trail criticism that member nations are not paying their “fair share” to support the security alliance.
Trump said some countries owe “vast sums” in dues, which is “very unfair to the United States” — an allegation that appeared to be based on an incomplete understanding of how the alliance is funded.
Trump stated that each nation agreed to contribute 2 percent of its gross domestic product to NATO. In fact, the alliance had long ago set a goal that each member would devote at least 2 percent of GDP to defense in their own budgets.
The members contribute their capabilities to NATO, not monetary assessments. Those who haven’t reached 2 percent, which is the majority of nations, don’t “owe” or have to make up shortfalls of the past.
“These nations must pay what they owe,” Trump said.
He followed this up with two tweets this morning that reiterated that he just doesn’t know what our European allies have agreed to do or what they have failed to do.
Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017
…vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017
Germany doesn’t owe money to NATO. What they’re supposed to do is spend more money on their own armed forces. Theoretically, this would allow us to spend less money on our armed forces, but Trump has proposed a $54 billion increase in our military spending and has requested $30 million in supplemental defense spending from what was appropriated under his predecessor Barack Obama. If he’s concerned that we’re paying too much on defense, he could start by asking for less than $84 billion extra in his budget requests.
Because Trump doesn’t understand the basics here, he insults Germany and most of the rest of NATO by insisting that they “owe” us money and must pay it back. Certainly, Germany owes us something for all we’ve done for them since the second world war. But they don’t owe us any cash.
Finally, since Trump wouldn’t shake Merkel’s hand, I’ll leave you with this:
Any questions?
The president behaves like a 9th grader – at best – and berates our ally in public. He doesn’t understand he has a state department who can handle this diplomatically at some lower level, if he really thinks there is a problem. But that doesn’t matter. Facts don’t matter to an idiot. Rex doesn’t know what he is doing either. So Trump confers with his closed friends – Bannon and Miller, I suppose. And then fires off a tweet to tell the world he feels harmed. So the next time he really needs an ally, perhaps none will be found. How long must we tolerate this twit?
Until 2020 or maybe 2024 depending on whether the DNC learned anything from 2016 or not. My bet is on “not”.
If the Democrats haven’t learned how to win by 2020 then the party is finished at the national level and basically also the federal government.
How long? Hard to say. His dead-enders will stick with him til the bitter end. We can count on that much. He’s underwater in favorability otherwise, and has done nothing to improve matters since his term began. Corporate media have been more critical of tRump from what I can tell than they were at similar junctures of Obama’s or W’s administrations. For those of us not in a right-wing bubble – and that is still a very significant number – that will matter. The question then comes down to how much patience does his own party have with him. He’s supposed to be the useful idiot who turns the US back to its pre-New Deal past. If he is incapable of facilitating that dream of theirs, they’ll find the dirt they need to force him out. Just a hunch. Wish I had evidence to support that.
I would advise we focus on get out the vote efforts wherever possible this year (Virginia) and next year in the meantime. He’s enough of an albatross around his party’s neck, to where we might at least make some inroads – statehouses, erosion into GOP majorities in Congress, etc. Not too optimistic about the US Senate, but House might get a bit less red. Stay focused, stay angry, and continue showing those who are reachable what the consequences of Trumpism really are. That’s our hope now. Minimizing as much damage as possible. Find someone with good favorables to run against Trump in 2020. I’ll keep an open mind on that front.
Correction: pre-Civil War past.
Considering I live south of the Mason-Dixon line, I suppose that’s a fair enough point. There are some folks who are still stuck over 150 years in the past.
FWIW, I recall an interview with Trump from ages ago, probably the latter 1980s, with Larry King or the like, in which he said that we should say to Japan “you have to pay for your protection.” This long-standing obsession of his suggests that once a rent-collecting landlord, always a rent-collecting landlord.
I’m not saying Trump gets direct orders from Putin on what to do.
I am suggesting, based on all we’ve been seeing since the inception of this (mal)administration, that someone in Trump’s inner circle is working to steer our easily led Dear Leader toward words and actions that benefit Putin’s goals of destabilizing Europe in general and NATO specifically as well as the United States domestically, with policies and budgetary decisions that hamstring the nation’s ability to function in the world.
I believe that Trump is a fool and a tool and is being manipulated to our harm and Russia’s gain.
Looks like Europe has been doing a good job on its own of destabilizing itself — austerity and immigrant overload. And if my good buddy Vlad has been quietly working on some of these EU leaders to have them begin detaching a tad from being a lapdog of the US and becoming closer to Russia, I’d say that’s a valid and worthwhile endeavor.
Now, since Trump seems to have had a spectacularly clumsy meeting with Merkel, it gives an opening to Putin when he meets w/her on May 2.
The US and the world would benefit from a little hamstringing. Long past time to stop being the world’s top cop. In recent years, we’ve made far more enemies than friends, and the world is a far unsafer place.
Driving Europe into the arms of Putin is not “valid and worthwhile.” It’s stupid and dangerous. If you don’t see that, then you don’t really understand reality at all.
Lately, the US and the EU have been doing a fair job of driving individual Euro countries into the arms of Putin. My man Vlad is just making himself available for those Euro leaders who might be getting skeptical of the latest Russophobia scare campaign and who are probably tired of taking orders from the American Bully.
For a con man who famously never pays what he (actually) owes, this is pretty rich.
In any event, this is simply the Goebbelsian Big Lie of the Day, tweeted to the True Believers for their delectation. Whether the corporate media can act as counter to Der Trumper’s barrage of Big Lies remains to be seen.
RE: Gorka link, and links from there, which all should follow!
I’ve heard this yet-one-more-Trump-nazi-appointee interviewed several times on NPR. (Why are they giving a nazi airtime? Hafta ask them. Suspect answer would be that he’s now a prominent “official” spokesperson in the Trump MalAdmin.)
My reaction listening to him was immediate and visceral: a lugubrious, arrogant, deeply dishonest, bigoted asshole.
So thanks for the confirmation of my character-judgment-radar. Reinforces my faith in my ability to spot a vile, bigoted, dishonest piece of shit right out of the gate.
Oh, and the captioned “meme” is perfect.
Germany may decide that they would like the US bases in Germany back and that the USA is welcome to leave. The USA is becoming more of a threat to the EU than Putin right now, and you need allies like Trump like you need a hole in the head. The EU is already thinking about increasing its security role post Brexit which means that NATO may become obsolete in any case.
I understand our bases have a significant economic input to Germany’s economy.
Could be useful for housing refugees!
There are only 5 nations who are meeting their defense spending requirements of 2% of GDP per a 2006 agreement. Germany is not one of them. They spend 1.2%.
This year it will be 1.22%.
link
U.S. Conservatives have long equated increased defense spending with increased security. This is idiotic, of course, but it is the lazy logic that Conservatives apply to all their policies. In fact, for the GOP generally, increased defense spending means vastly increased profits for their corporate benefactors. Real security comes from good foreign policy relationships, improved economic and social development in fragile states and similar. Military “solutions” are nearly always the most expensive and least effective way of achieving long-term security.
for all we’ve done for them since the second world war”.
No, they really don’t. When we, or any other country gives assistance to another, we don’t do it for them, we do it for us. We give aid, or whatever kind, to another country because at some level it serves our political, economic, or military interests for them to receive it.
Germany is certainly lucky that in recent decades we judged it in our interests that there be a strong, prosperous Germany, and that we gave them extended and extensive assistance to make that happen. But we did that because we judged that a strong, successful, capitalist West Germany/Germany was in our interest as a bulwark against the Soviet Union/Russia. We did it for us and they were lucky that what we did for us benefitted them.
We need to get over the idea that we act altruistically towards other countries; it gives us a false understanding of how we – and most nations – act in the world. We do what our govt of the day perceives to be good for us. Sometimes that leaves other countries screwed, sometimes there is a lucky coincidence of interests that means they come out ahead. As in the case of Germany. But they don’t “owe us” for the fact they came up lucky when the US put their recovery high on our own list of national interests.
They are obligated under the NATO treaty to spend 2% GDP. They don’t owe it to us, but as part of their commitment to the organization.
Obama last year:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/25/obama-tells-complacent-europe-to-hike-military-spending/
well, didn’t take long for him to compensate for encounter w. Leader of the Free World. he got Sec Service to pick up female fans from along the roadside and bring to Mar a Lago
video from Palm Beach station:
https://twitter.com/riotwomennn/status/843485951812952064