Isn’t paying a “fair share” a big Leftist mantra around the world? It’s sure something Democratic Party voters yammer about on a constant basis here in the United States. But, really, over all these months, there is almost nothing Trump can do, say, or propose that will make Democrats happy. Trump could announce a tripling of Planned Parenthood’s funding and Democrats would still find a reason to slam Trump.
Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations
President Trump exported the confrontational, Ânationalist rhetoric of his campaign across the Atlantic on Thursday, scolding European leaders for not footing more of the bill for their own defense and lecturing them to stop taking advantage of U.S. taxpayers.
This is in the straight news section of the Washington Post, mind you, not the opinion pages. You might think otherwise.
Speaking in front of a twisted shard of the World Trade Center at NATO’s gleaming new headquarters in Brussels, Trump upbraided America’s longtime allies for “not paying what they should be paying.†He used a ceremony dedicating the memorial to NATO’s resolve in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States as a platform to exhort leaders to “focus on terrorism and immigration†to ensure their security.
And he held back from the one pledge NATO leaders most wanted to hear: an unconditional embrace of the organization’s solemn treaty commitment that an attack on a single alliance nation is an attack on all of them.
Instead, European leaders gazed unsmilingly at Trump while he said that “23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying,†and that they owe “massive amounts†from past years — a misstatement of NATO’s spending targets, which guide individual nations’ own domestic spending decisions.
Shouldn’t they be paying their fair share? Over to the opinion pages of the Washington Post
Trump’s behavior at NATO is a national embarrassment
Poor NATO. After all of the hoops summit organizers reportedly jumped through to accommodate President Trump and his anemic attention span, he definitely was not on his best behavior. Trump was the party guest whom no one really wants to deal with but has to — because he has more money than anyone else. The party guest who shows up and berates the hosts for not paying for their fair share of the defense spending cake. To borrow from NFL player Marshawn Lynch, Trump acted as though he was there just so he wouldn’t get fined.
Let’s perform an intellectual hypothetical exercise, shall we? Look up at the ceiling and consider how the media would have considered Mr. Obama stating that NATO members needed to pay their fair share.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
ALL MEMBERS SHOULD PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!! IT IS ABOUT TIME SOMEONE SPOKE UP AND PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS NOT RUDE. THIS COUNTRY GETS TREATED LIKE A TRAMP SOMETIMES.
trump clearly doesn’t even understand the basics of NATO. The others there were gracious enough not to embarrass him publicly, but their eye-rolling at his ignorance was telling.
The US chooses to spend 1/3 of our budget each year on defense spending. Dumbasses such as trump might pretend (or even believe) it’s to protect nations who choose to spend their money on their citizens, but it’s not. There is no agreement dictating that NATO nations invest 2% into NATO, only that the nations strive to spend 2% IN THEIR COUNTRIES on defense.
If trump and the GOP want to help the beleaguered American taxpayer they could choose to spend less on defense. Each year a significant sum of taxpayer money pays interest on our national debt – much from borrowing to unnecessarily invade foreign nations.
Clearly the little guy doesn’t understand NATO except that which
he cut and pasted.
This is where you explain where the commenter is wrong.
That’s about 3.5% of GDP, but that represents global defence, which includes the Pacific theater, as well as the Atlantic theater.
No need besides y’all don’t make the rules for commenting here.
Feel free to ignore any helpful hints. We’ll just note that you have refused to support your position.
When you send anything “helpful” maybe.
Until then I prefer to ignore your little childish trolling, kiddies.
The agreement is to reach 2% of GDP by 2024. Defence spending by most NATO nations has been increasing since 2014 when the date was set.
This sort of petulant behavior may result in increasingly aggressive acts against NATO countries by Russia and other adversaries, and could lead to serious miscalculations that result in the outbreak of war.
Article 5 has only been invoked once in NATO history — the day after the attacks on the U.S. of 9/11/2001. NATO has sustained thousands of casualties in Afghanistan based on Article 5.