Discussion: Trump Tweets Germany Owes 'Vast Sums Of Money To NATO'

Not only did Trump hire Nazis, but the Nazi he hired was only an Ivanka away from sitting next to Merkel.

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Meanwhile, I canā€™t believe the shit Iā€™m reading about nappy time Tillerson. Something really weird is going on with that guy in his position. Something fishy.

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ā€œā€¦The United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!ā€

Whatā€™s odd here is that he talks about contributions to NATO and then ends up with Germany owing money to the United States, specifically, for powerful and expensive (Louis the Hotel) defense. This is not about NATO. Itā€™s not about the United States. Heā€™s acting as if Germany owes Trump, personally.

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We want to be in Germany. Actually we pay Germany to have bases there. Germany could kick us out anytime.

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he did say it.

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Merkelā€™s little Fritzie had an opinionā€¦

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UK $56 bln
FR $47 bln
GR $ 37 bln
IT $22 bln


$162 bln

RUS $66 bln

4 largest economies in NATO spend $100 bln more than the country they exist to oppose.

Fuck off, Cheeto

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Which country costs the US taxpayer more, I wonder: Germany or Russia?

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has to say it on twitter because saying it to her face would get him punched outā€¦

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Ugly & The Beastā€¦

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No doubt PeePee and his Cabal of Crazy will waste no time impugning this Sec of State who clearly has NO STAMINA!

Oh, waitā€¦

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Oh, I know, I was born on one of those bases.

(WĆ¼rezburg, specifically)

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He mentioned it yesterday

from the Military article

At a joint news conference with Merkel in the White House East Room, Trump first stressed ā€œmy strong support of NATOā€ and then renewed his campaign criticism of members of the alliance ā€“ Germany among them ā€“ who were not spending at least two percent of gross domestic product on defense.

ā€œItā€™s very unfair to the United States,ā€ Trump said. ā€œThese nations must pay what they owe ā€“ at least two percent.ā€ The nations falling short of the goal owe ā€œvast sums,ā€ Trump said without giving any figures.

Merkel responded that Germany had boosted defense spending by eight percent last year and was committed to reaching the two percent of GDP goal by 2024 under the agreement with all 28 members of the alliance.

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How about the US start by cutting its defense budget to 2% GDP

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What a pathetic President. This was an insult to Germany and the United States by this pathetic little man Donald Trump. One has to wonder if he is personally trying to alienate our allies so they turn against us or he turns against them and opens the door for Russia to walk right in to all of Europe.

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Brought to you by Albert Speer, Adolf Hitlerā€™s personal architect.

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The U.S has about 65,000 troops in all of Europe, and that includes a couple thousand Marines serving as embassy guards. Even if we pulled them out, weā€™d be hurting ourselves because one of the air bases in Germany is home to a hospital that handles casualties from our middle eastern wars on a timely basis. Close it down and care for them deteriorates. Nor is there much in the way of military threats. Estonia and possibly Poland might have to sweat out Russian irredentism, Germany not so much. It also seems that Trump is content that Russia take what it wants because Strong Leadership.

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That Mr. Trump and Bannon use outrageous tweets as a distraction tool is probably true, but I think that Josh Marshallā€™s ā€˜dominanceā€™ explanation comes closer to the mark for a lot of what comes out of our President, especially on Saturday nights. When a psychopath like Mr. Trump sees himself being disparaged and others elevated ā€“ as was the general tone of coverage of the Merkel-Trump meeting ā€“ his ego is tortured and he reacts to reassert his dominance. In this case, heā€™s seeking a way to damage Ms. Merkel (personally, as a matter of dominance), although her probity and his general ignorance means that he really doesnā€™t have much to work with.

Thus, these tweets are simultaneously insane and profoundly lame. And these tweets not likely to have the kind of ā€˜distractionā€™ effect that may sometimes be the goal of outrageous statements from @realDonaldTrump ā€“ I mean, really, are even the deepest acolytes of the Trump cult likely to hyperventilate over NATO payment rates?

Our Presidentā€™s cycle of dysfunction appears to be accelerating as he appears weaker and weaker. When the House votes against the Trumpcare bill (or if it squeaks through the House, when it dies in the Senate), his sense of grievance and rage is likely to accelerate, now that Ryan and whoever else talked him into publicly claiming it and supporting it ā€œ100%ā€. We are entering a dangerous period, since as Marshall has also noted, Mr. Trump is most out of control when he feels like heā€™s losing (which heā€™s been doing most of the time the last few weeks).

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Ultimate irony? That manā€™s actions and words over the past 2 days probably will assure that Merkel is re-elected.

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