Trump says he would encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to any NATO country that do

The suggestion that US NATO spending might have its reward in defense contracts, which may explain the 2%+ spend, which could be drawn down, does not make Trump's statements right.

 

duplicate

 

If there is no money changing hands then what difference does it make.

 

Because members have pledged to help each other, using their own armed forces, so those armed forces need to meet certain standards.

 

It's not a requirement, it's a spending goal. Educate yourself, lest you look ignorant.

 

How far back, how many years, would a continued lack of sufficient contribution have to go before you would agree it constitutues a history of a country not meeting their obligations to the alliance?

 

Almost every country has made continual annual increases since 2014, so that 11 instead of three countries is now at 2% or or more, with a further 11 countries now at 1.5%-2%. And as mentioned, almost all have made - and continue to make - continual increases, year on year, boding continued improvement in the number of countries accomplishing 2%. Clear progress thus far and the continuation of efforts toward 2% is what counts.

 

Valid points.

His phrasing has gone all over the world and is adding to the current distresses going on. Trump may think he is a showman and saying these things for theater. But it is totally reckless, irresponsible and ANTI AMERICAN. Not everything is a financial transaction,........which he wants to reduce it to. Using THEATS ( and this is a threat) is worrying to everyone. The Pandemic created world wide stress, including financial stress.......and the wars have destabilized the planet significantly. This just adds fuel to the fire.
There is NO way this sick bloke shuld ever come near the oval office. If this is how he is behaving now.... imagine what he will say and do if elected again.... and decides to expand the powers of POTUS. Republicans and the trumpians need to do a serious rethink. (but they won't ) To put it bluntly ..he is too stupid to handle the kind of responsibility that comes with being POTUS. The world is ver interconnected now, and diplomacy and careful tactful speach is imperative.. A transactional buly has no place in that position. People have to decide if they want a bellicose , negative shabby "showman" who believes that everything is a superficial performance......or someone more sane like Nicki and Biden. ( with a wealth of experience, and the mature ability to be able to laugh at himself. THAT is strength of CHARACTER. Both are for the country...NOT themselves..

 

Indeed. That is something that is NEVER said , let alone in such a public forum. Putin already has trump where he wants him, and this just gives Putin carte Blanc. Also Trump is revealing where his "loyalties " lie......with Putin not the allies. Thank goodness that T is not in office........ as he is doing a lot of damage as it is His simple minded approach would be laughable if his craziness did not cause concern.

 

But it proved to be a very effective tactic to get NATO members to meet their commitments.

 

The penalty does not include blowing up your house. It simply means that we won't help you defend your house anymore from OTHERS if you fail to live up to your commitments. Your analogy isn't valid.

 

Bullying tactic might get some to add more money, but it can strain relationships with the nations that mater.
If the bully is going to threaten these allies.......wy use Russia?? The threat would be coming from the USA......so leave out the middle man.......who is not there to do Trumps bidding.

Putin would attack who ever HE wants to attack. He is not trumps errand boy Trump does NOT THINK before he opens his stupid mouth.

 

Pour encourager les autres.

 

He may not think before he opens his mouth. but he sure gave us cheaper gas, lower inflation, a more secure border, no new wars, never armed the Taliban, never ran in chaos from an enemy, never forced taxpayers to pay private college loans of others....

 

The wars have nothing to do with Trump, Biden or the US . Russia STARTED / INVADED Ukraine by choice. If you think that Trump would have prevented it , don't kid yourself. Putins decision was the result of long term planning to restore Russia's glory one nation at a time.
Hamas attaked Irsrael, and Isreal reponsed with WAR. Biden or the US had NOTHING TO do with the Hamas attack.

The Economy went crazy during and after the pandemic. No one to blame except the pandemic.....IF one needs someone to blame.
The economy and gas prices are NOT controlled by POTUS. The role of POTUS has it's own limitations.
The economy is starting to do well.......slowly , but surely.... supposed to some thatrical quick fix that does not exist.

The border issue now falls directly on the REps and Trump....who orchestrated his henchmen not to approve the bi partisan bill . The Reps have NO ARGUMENT now. They are obstructionists of the highest and most fowl degree. And Trump did this because he did NOT want Biden to have a win in making progress in the border problem. Trump is afraid that if Biden continues to ;do a good job.....it will affect the Trump voters into having a rethink. He wants to CONTROL the election to favor him.

 

No one is forcing the US to spend nearly 4% of their GDP on the military. NATO was not setup to allow the US to fight wars in the far east where much of their military spend takes place. Why should other NATO countries subsidize your interfering in the Far East

 

No money is changing hands. The US chooses to spend nearly 4% of its GDP on the military mainly in their attempt to control the Far East, an area that has nothing to do with NATO

 

When taking inflation into account, natural gas is cheaper now than it was during Trump's term and oil is not that much more. If oil price drops more, US jobs will be in danger - it is already not profitable to open new rigs in the US and no doubt then you would blame Biden for those job losses

Ps: you need to use the quote function in the way it was untended

 

Trumps objection seems to be about money changing hands since that doesn't happen then there's nothing to be concerned about.

 

so then there's nothing to pay.

so essentially most of the nations in the world their independence piece to the US I know.

 

With Trump’s isolationist approach, it would be easy to cut the US military by 80% overnight. If all America has to do is defend the American homeland from external attack, it doesn’t need aircraft carriers, for example.

Would you support that? Or do you think America has interests around the world?

 

Treasonous is the right word.

He said he would encourage our enemies to attack our allies. Maybe he doesn't realize that by saying that he already encouraged them, so he is actively encouraging them to attack NATO.

Nitpicky? Its dumb as hell to encourage Russia to attack countries like France when they already increased their spending to 1.9% as opposed to 2%. 11 members are already over the limit, and 11 others are within half a percentage.

NATO idea is deterrence, where a strong alliance deters enemies from even thinking about attacking, and now we have Trump encouraging them to attack while saying US will not honor the treaty. NATO has never asked US to do anything, but US has asked them, and they came to help..

 

Again, there is "nothing to pay" to other nations because that's not how it works.

How it works is, each country "pays" for it's own armed forces and agrees to pool those resources with other NATO countries in the event that another NATO member is attacked.

 

If Trump has an objection about "money changing hands", it's because he doesn't understand simple facts about how NATO works.