Trump’s Attack on Our Allies Continues, and It Has Not Gone Unnoticed

Donald Trump is a menace.

I’ve lived through presidencies that I disagreed with – in the case of the Obama presidency, disagreed with INTENSELY.

At no time, however, have I felt our nation was in true danger of losing its sovereignty, as well as its soul. I’ve certainly never felt that way about a Republican president. Our nation was always in better hands with a Republican at the helm.

No doubt, had Republican voters chose more wisely in the primary season of 2015-2016, I’d still have the same notions about what party was best suited to lead this country.  I was a Republican for over 30 years before the party lost its mind and allowed a corrupt, Manhattan derelict, con artist and liar to become the face of the GOP.

Now it seems whether Republican or Democrat, they’re both just opposite sides of the same filthy coin.

Trump met with our NATO allies in Brussels on Wednesday. It was a train wreck, with our president attempting to bully the other representatives there over what he sees as a failure to pay their “fair share.”

Trump has berated members of the alliance for failing to spend enough of their money on defense, accusing Europe of freeloading off the U.S. and raising doubts about whether he would come to members’ defense if they were attacked.

Trump said he made his anger clear to allies on Wednesday.

“Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening,” Trump said, adding that, in response, European countries agreed to up their spending.

“They are going to up it to levels like they have never though it before,” he said. He did not specify which countries had committed to what

To be clear, the United States pays a little over 3 percent of our GDP to NATO. The target of 2 percent of each nation’s GDP is a guideline, but not a requirement, and anything over that 2 percent is voluntary.

Each nation is expected to consider their budget and their defense spending, and are encouraged to meet the 2 percent goal.

That is, encouraged, but not required.

Last year, 22 of the 28 partner nations of NATO increased their defense spending.

Trump’s attacks didn’t stop after Wednesday. He resumed his efforts to weaken our alliances.

In a series of tweets from Brussels, Trump said “Presidents have been trying unsuccessfully for years to get Germany and other rich NATO Nations to pay more toward their protection from Russia.”

He complained the United States “pays tens of Billions of Dollars too much to subsidize Europe” and demanded that member nations meet their pledge to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, which “must ultimately go to 4%!”

Trump has taken an aggressive tone during the NATO summit, questioning the value of an alliance that has defined decades of American foreign policy, torching an ally and proposing a massive increase in European defense spending.

In particular, President Trump seems to have targeted the nation of Germany for his most pointed attacks, mainly because of a gas pipeline deal between Germany and Russia.

During the trip, Trump has questioned the necessity of the alliance that formed a bulwark against Soviet aggression, tweeting after a day of contentious meetings: “What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?”

He demanded that NATO countries “Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025” and then rattled them further by privately suggesting member nations should spend 4 percent of their gross domestic product on defense — a bigger share than even the United States currently pays, according to NATO statistics.

Thursday morning, Trump and those committed to repeating everything Trump says, as if it has any relationship to truth, are saying the NATO partners have agreed to up their spending. As it is with Trump, at all times, it’s best to just wait.

BREAKING: French President Macron denies Trump claim that NATO powers agreed to increase defense spending beyond previous targets.

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 12, 2018

See?

As it is, Trump lying isn’t anything new or unusual. He does it as an unconscious reflex, like breathing.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just reality TV. It is very likely “scripted,” however, and we should all be concerned about the script writer.

Julia Davis, who runs the Russian Media Monitor website reported earlier Thursday of the discussion on Russian television’s version of “60 Minutes.”

Tatyana Parkhalina, the president of the Association for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation was a guest, and made this stunning observation about Trump and the NATO summit:

“I never thought I’d live to see this!” she exclaimed, according to Davis’ translation. “Neither the USSR nor Russia, who tried many times to drive the wedge between transatlantic allies, but Washington is doing everything to break down the foundations of transatlantic alliance and unity.”

Not just Washington, but Trump, specifically.

But we’re not supposed to consider that he might be compromised?