Not only is he focused like Rain Man on destroying NATO (not a Russian asset!), we get these gems:
"Accepted protocol dictates that alliance members do not discuss internal business in front of nonmembers. But as is frequently the case, Mr. Trump did not adhere to the established norms, according to several American and European officials who were in the room.
He complained that European governments were not spending enough on the shared costs of defense, leaving the United States to carry an outsize burden. He expressed frustration that European leaders would not, on the spot, pledge to spend more. And he appeared not to grasp the details when several tried to explain to him that spending levels were set by parliaments in individual countries, the American and European officials said."
"During the middle of a speech by Ms. Merkel, Mr. Trump again broke protocol by getting up and leaving, sending ripples of shock across the room, according to American and European officials who were there. But before he left, the president walked behind Ms. Merkel and interrupted her speech to call her a great leader. Startled and relieved that Mr. Trump had not continued his berating of the leaders, the people in the room clapped."
He's part doofus, part asshole.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/nato-president-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
it is Not OK that Trump uses withdrawal as leverage to pressure NATO members to pay their fair share. Hypocrisy beyond compare.
Link: https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/260804-sanders-calls-for-new-nato-that-includes-russia
I always knew big Ern would eventually become president
I figured it was going to be another nothingburger until I got to that. Why did you even mention the other stuff? Of course NATO members don't want him talking about the fact that their parliaments won't honor their commitments. It is embarrassing to them, and embarrassing that they would pass off their own failures as if it is his fault for not understanding, and silly of you to pass that on to us as if it indicts Trump. Just weird. (And, making NATO stronger by getting them to increase defense spending is against the interests of Russia. How can you twist that into a pro-Russian thing?)
Now, the behavior with Merkel sounds embarrassing, but given that you thought the other stuff was embarrassing, and the twist that was put on it to switch the embarrassment from them to him, I have to assume the same is probably true with the Merkel stuff. Maybe not, but you make it seem like the Merkel stuff might have some background that reasonably explains it since the other stuff is easily explained.
Russian accomplice, the biggest moron, fellow traveler with Putin, or a combo of the two.
Perhaps he is merely a useful idiot.
That would be his only possible defense at this point. And it is possible.
Wahhhhhh!
Or dividing NATO.
Or consistently misunderstanding how NATO funding works. There are no dues. No one needs to "pay up." And we devote exactly the same percentage of our GDP to European defense as the rest of the alliance does - we spend more because of something called "the Pacific."
But he is unteachable. I see why you love him.
You don’t want to present a fractured alliance front when negotiating with Russia.
He has no clue that Western Europe and NATO have shared values and history with the US, while Russia has always been a hostile adversary or a potential one. He treats our allies worse than our adversaries. He is the Kremlins wet dream.