More Trump madness

[nairiporter]

There are other ways to get NATO nations to pay what is required into their military budgets but actively encouraging Russia (or anyone else really) to attack a NATO nation is madness beyond belief. The Non-American nations really need to plan now for a NATO without a Trump led America as that is what the MAGA crowd look like they are going to foist on us.

Trump says he would 'encourage' Russia to attack Nato allies who do not pay their bills
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68266447

At a rally on Saturday, he said he had once told a leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments, and would "encourage" the aggressors to "do whatever the hell they want".
Members of Nato commit to defend any nation in the bloc that gets attacked.
The White House called the comments "appalling and unhinged".


Wow. If you don't like the way NATO is structured, renegotiate it. You don't unilaterally and casusally decide you're going to impose a new rule that has drastic ramifications. Good God. And some of his supporters like Trump's foreign policy.

Let's look at the larger picture (like anyone in the MAGA crowd is capable, or willing to). The US will lose relevance if they decide to back out of NATO. European nations will arm themselves and while doing so will question every facet of their relationship with the United States. The US will be poorer because of it, too.

I still find it shocking that the above happened and yet the same man is now favourite to win in a democratic nation.

It just reminds us all how precious democratic freedoms for all citizens are and how easily they could be lost if we allow it to happen.
Like Reactions:Brack, Kushinator, Rexedgar and 6 others

Should Mr. Donald Trump become President of the United States of America, those who voted him into office will have much to answer for.

From one of my favorite "go-to" books:

"It is not necessary to put the people into shackles. It can be accomplished by helping them to forge their own chains out of their emotions, ignorance and prejudices." A Beginner's Guide to Government. Aloysius Goldpen. Chelm Press, 2011, Gotham, GA.

Regards, stay safe and well... informed.

Comments

[mikeyxw]

Yeah, this is classic Trump. I certainly am not a fan, but the criticism of this I've seen really misses the mark. Realistically, this is aimed at a domestic base of Americans who believe that Europe has, for decades, not done their share to support NATO. It's also hard to argue with this given how many countries in Western Europe spend below the guideline of 2% of GDP. This will play well with a segment of the US population and the outrage by those countries which have been spending less of their GDP on defence will play even better.

It also isn't as dangerous as it seems. The Baltic countries and Poland, the countries with land borders with Russia and Belarus, all spend over 2% of their GDP on defence. New member Finland is planning to do so in 2024, largely to buy new F35s from the US. This doesn't really leave anyone who spends below 2% that is any real danger from Russia, aside from the spying and occasional assassinations that they carry out already. It seems like a pretty well calculated move to gain some domestic support for the upcoming election and the only downside is to make NATO relations a bit more frosty, and Trump hasn't ever really valued NATO as much as he should.

[nairiporter]

Let's not forget that without military and economic aid from major NATO members, Ukraine is toast. Neither Poland nor Finland can bring that kind of help. If Trump's rhetoric (and actions) are viewed by major NATO members as an effort to undermine NATO, these may decide that without the support of the leading force in NATO (the US) it's not worth trying to help Ukraine any more and they might start rethinking the whole geopolitical plan for Eastern Europe. And that's bad for both Europe and the US in the long run.