Susan Wright on the Right
It’s scary how accurate this assessment feels.
President Trump is in Belgium now to meet with our NATO allies, and people who have not sold their souls to join the Trump’s Temple are [rightfully] concerned.
Our membership in NATO has been a boon to this nation. It has strengthened the standing of the United States in the world.
And yes, I get being upset that not every nation in the alliance is paying the required 2 percent (and anything above that is voluntary). Money, however, is not the bottom line, when it comes to that alliance.
More politically astute observers understand that.
Donald Trump is neither astute, nor does he have the best interest of this nation in mind. Of that, I am wholly convinced.
Even members of Trump’s campaign network, Fox News, are balking at Trump’s behavior towards our allies, today.
Chris Stirewalt, Fox News politics editor, is expressing a mix of exasperation and concern over allowing someone like Trump to handle the very delicate balance of presenting American interests, and still maintaining ties with our allies.
On Tuesday night, Fox News host Shannon Bream played a clip of Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on her program, “Fox News @ Night.”
Corker isn’t really a Donald Trump fan. He has expressed a lot of the concerns about Trump’s attitude towards NATO and our allies, as well as the upcoming summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as others have.
A weakened NATO only helps Russia’s quest for dominance. Corker fears there will be some sort of “consolation” given to Putin, in the wake of a disruptive NATO meeting.
Stirewalt isn’t exactly blowing off Corker. Surprising, given where he works.
Stirewalt responded by saying that Republican lawmakers should quit kidding themselves that they can prevent Trump from realigning “U.S. foreign policy to be more favorable towards Russia.”
Ya think?
Predicting Trump’s destructive behavior will cause our European allies to question the strength of our ties, Stirewalt pressed:
“And the Republicans who say, ‘Well, we have a broad foreign policy apparatus and we forced him to impose these sanctions, and we forced him to do these things.’ He’s going to fly into Brussels like a seagull,” Stirewalt added. “He is going to defecate all over everything — squawk and fly away is what he’s going to do in Brussels.
“And the Europeans are going to continue to say to each other, ‘We don’t have a reliable partner in the U.S. government right now.’”
That’s exactly right.
The only one that can really rely on a warm relationship with Donald Trump right now appears to be those nations that are most hostile to us.
Even the otherwise spineless House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke up in defense of NATO.
“I subscribe to the view that we should not be criticizing our president while he’s overseas,” Ryan began when asked about Trump’s harsh remarks that NATO allies are “delinquent” in paying for defense.
Why? Does he become any less awful when he’s out of the country?
“NATO is indispensable. It is as important today as it ever has been,” Ryan continued, noting that the House will hold a voice vote on a resolution later in the day expressing support for NATO allies.
Ryan pointed out that Germany, the largest economy in the European Union, should be paying the required 2 percent to defense (They should), and that a natural gas deal made between Russia and Germany is troubling (It is), but NATO is valuable, and necessary.
Keep watching Donald Trump’s behavior. Watch the difference in how he’s treating our allies today and how he treats Putin on Monday.
I think what you see will be like night and day.
Then ask yourself why.
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