The Washington Monthly notes that Trump has done everything that Putin has dreamed of doing in and to Europe and the Western Alliance.
It is true that there will never be a trial of Mueller’s charges against the 12 Russian Military Intelligence officers.
But it does seem strange that we now have–for the first time since World War II–a president determined to derail NATO and the Western Alliance, a president who showers praise on Putin. It is puzzling to our allies, as it is puzzling to many Americans. It is also puzzling to see the Republican party, once the great foe of Russia, heaping scorn on anyone who criticizes Trump and his fondness for Putin. Perhaps Putin has become the great champion of white nationalism, in Russia and elsewhere.
Trump is being met with demonstrations against him wherever he goes. He has spoken out bluntly against the kind of multiculturalism and diversity that we in America used to consider a strength. He seems to be warning Europe that its immigration policies are letting in too many Muslims and too many people of color. Strange words from an American president.
Martin Longman writes:
Donald Trump’s audition seems to be going well. By the time he sits down with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki next week (with no witnesses present) he will have ticked off an impressive list of tasks. Beginning in Brussels, he so disrupted and threatened the NATO alliance that the Pentagon had to go into immediate damage control mode.
Hours after President Donald Trump departed NATO headquarters Thursday, U.S. military leaders embarked on a full-scale “damage control” operation with calls to their counterparts across Europe to reassure them that America will abide by its defense commitments in the region.
The outreach, directed by the Pentagon leadership, came after Trump threatened to reassess those commitments during a gathering with NATO allies in Brussels, according to multiple current and former diplomatic and military officials familiar with the calls.
The overall message from senior military officials in a series of phone calls to members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been that U.S. military bases in their countries will remain open and American troop levels in the region will not be reduced.
But the damage cannot be undone and now no European politician could significantly increase defense spending even if they wanted to without looking like Trump’s poodle. That might suit liberals just fine but it suits Putin even better. The alliance is weakened and vulnerable border states with Russia will feel less protected and more like vassals of their domineering neighbor.
Even before he left for his trip, Trump’s verbal abuse of Europe spurred a response from E.U. President Donald Tusk, who reminded Trump to “Appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have that many.” But Trump’s first order of business upon arrival was to launch a blistering attack on German chancellor Angela Merkel in an effort to weaken her at a tumultuous point in her government’s effort to tackle immigration policy. Do you think the Germans recognize this rhetoric?
The President warned that immigration was hurting Germany and other parts of Europe “very much,” apparently referring to a wave of refugees who have entered Europe from shattered Syria and other unstable societies in the Middle East and North Africa.
“I think they better watch themselves because you are changing culture, you are changing a lot of things, you are changing security.”
Putin couldn’t have plunged a shiv into Merkel any better than that, but Trump had something even more deadly in mind for Theresa May. The week before the president’s arrival in the United Kingdom saw Prime Minister May’s government falter over its plans to separate from the European Union. As Paul Krugman helpfully explains here, May has been trying to sell a “soft Brexit” that would keep the U.K. within a common customs union with the Continent, but this caused several of her ministers to resign in protest. As a result, there is some doubt if she can retain the confidence of Parliament. Trump made sure to take the side of her “Hard Brexit” critics and give her a solid push.
In an interview with The Sun that was conducted while he was in Brussels but published while he was dining with May, Trump claimed that she had failed to follow his advice on how to properly cleave from the European Union with very unfortunate results. He even said that a soft Brexit would preclude the U.K. from striking a new trade deal with America to help them offset the damage their economy will suffer from European tariffs. Trump could not have delivered a more deadly threat, as the entire premise of the Brexiteers is based on a new trade deal with the United States. Trump was saying that a soft break from the E.U. could never work because he wouldn’t allow it to work.
All of these things advance Putin’s goals. He wants to discourage the West’s defense spending, undermine NATO and force border states back into vassalage. He wants a weakened European Union, and a thorough cleaving of the U.K. from the E.U. accomplishes that more effectively than anything else could. He wants weak and distracted governments in London and Berlin. And he wants America alienated from their traditional allies so that Europe will be less willing to stand in the way of his plans. All that’s really left is for Trump to cut a deal with Russia over Syria that will facilitate their unfettered control over the country.
It truly does baffle me that some of the commentators on previous posts have basically given up—as you write, there won’t be a trial of the Russians indicted, so let’s give up and forget about it—and those who rationalize this because, to paraphrase, we’re (the U.S.) no angels either, so cut ’em some slack.
I particularly liked an insightful and accurate commentary by Michelle Goldberg in the NYT. Why is it that Germans are so hurt (I include myself as one of them) and more concerned about this than tens of millions of Americans?
Our president is a pariah in England and Scotland, where crowds have turned out by the tens of thousands to ridicule him. I expect he would get the same reception in every other democratic country. At the NATO, the dictator Erdogan seemed to be the only one who wanted to talk to him.
The subtitle of the article honestly spills it out: “Pro-American Germans feel betrayed.” It does not say “All the Germans feel betrayed.”
What you fail to understand is that the overwhelming majority of Germans are pro-American. I suggest you read the introduction to Andrei Cherny’s “The Candy Bombers” to understand. Or virtually every post WWII history of Germany, for that matter.
And more to the point, please provide any evidence, anywhere in history, where “All” applies to anything.
I expect that Angela Merkel feels betrayed by Trump, and she is right. The only people he does not betray are fellow traveling fascists.
From “The Candy Bombers:”
“Prologue: September 2001
“On the lower tip of the island of Manhattan, fires trapped deep beneath the twisted metal girders were still burning. In great cities around the globe, people gathered to express their outrage and their sympathy. Hundreds of Londoners stood in silence when Big Ben rang at noon. When the guard changed at Buckingham Palace, the band played a song about the American flag still waving after a failed assault on Fort McHenry. In Beijing and Amman, bouquets and wreaths piled high at the gates of the the American embassies. In Dublin, the stores closed in commemoration. Children in the West Bank held candlelight vigils. In Paris, the newspaper headline was ‘We Are All Americans.’
“But nowhere was there a greater outpouring of humanity and emotion than in the German capital of Berlin. There, 200,000 people gathered along the broad avenue leading through the Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate. No one was sure why so many turned out.
“The crowd felt young. Men and women in their twenties wore backpacks and shorts under the late summer sun; parents pushed strollers and held children by the hand in the enormous throng.
“One woman stood still, alone in the crowd, lost in their thoughts as families and couples marched past her. She was old and stooped. Her hair was wild and she wore a dark, heavy coat even on the warm day. She was quietly sobbing.
“Two young men approached her and asked why she was crying . She seemed startled, as if roused from a slumber. ‘I love Americans,’ she said quickly, in a way that so imploringly they understand that it grabbed them and shook them by their lapels. She started to go on, to say more, to explain, but before the words came out, her gaze widened and warmed, the tears replaced by an ineffable joy. Her shoulders straightened a bit. The wrinkles seemed to flee her face.
“A distant, happy memory danced across her eyes as she looked upward, toward the sky. She began softly, in a whisper. ‘You see, I was a girl during the Airlift…’”
When you discard close allies, especially the second oldest federal republic in the world (after the U.S.) in favor of repressive, authoritarian regimes, you have committed an unforgivable sin.
Thank you, Greg.
Ditto.
Do you think that the Russians were dancing and singing when the WTC was attacked? This is how propaganda works: say what is true, and omit what is not, and let the reader or the viewer to finish the picture.
Then you make a connection between the WTC attack, the crying Germans, the Airlift, and the split post-war Germany, and by association the Russians are almost complicit in the 9/11 attack (although there is enough information to point the finger in the direction of the Saudis, who were and are the great purchaser of the American arms, but these details should never be part of a propaganda campaign. Propaganda must be very simple, one should not stop and think).
Airlift was a clever and much needed PR campaign. These former kids do not remember the bombing of Dresden, but they do remember the candies. And it was a proper counteract to the idiotic Soviet policy. Doublegood.
BA, you are too young to know that the Soviets were evil. Read about the gulags. Read history. Your analogies show a lack of knowledge. Stalin killed more people than Hitler.
BA,
The Berlin airlift was no PR stunt. Don’t show your ignorance.
“BA, you are too young to know that the Soviets were evil. Read about the gulags. Read history. Your analogies show a lack of knowledge. Stalin killed more people than Hitler.” – so, were the Russians dancing and singing when the WTC was attacked? Did they praise it? Instead of answering the question about 2001 event you are talking about evil Soviets.
“Stalin killed more people than Hitler.” – I know about the gulags. Stalin did not kill people because they had “wrong” ethnicity. He did not methodically and “scientifically” gassed them and then used their skin to make postcards. Where the Jews were safer during the war: in Germany or in Russia? Your knowledge of history is very lopsided, especially for a historian.
BA, you are very stupid. Stalin was an anti-Semite. He was also anti-intellectual, and anti-many other things.
Educate yourself before you comment here again.
Start by reading “The Black Book of Communism,” by two French historians.
BA, not worth the effort to respond.
BA, I told you to read the book, not to send me a review.
After you have read it, check back with me.
As a Jew whose family in Europe was destroyed by Hitler, I don’t need your lectures.
It’s puzzling that Trump — who never hesitates to bash even very conservative allies like Theresa May — will not say anything critical about Putin.
It’s almost like Trump is afraid of Putin. This unwillingness by Trump to do anything that Putin would not approve of is starting to be beyond strange.
And Trump’s stubborn insistence that no one else can be present when he meets with Putin almost sounds as if he is following orders. I hope Putin lets Trump off the hook for their “private meeting” because the optics are really making Trump look bad.
There is absolutely no reason that Trump needs a private meeting with the man whose interference helped him win the election.
The man is a walking disaster zone; wherever he goes he causes chaos, confusion, dissension and discord. He makes statements that he later denies and then sort of undenies subsequently. This is above and beyond the cascade of lies, inaccuracies and misstatements of facts. Seriously, 63 millions voted for this miscreant?! His speeches/ramblings in Europe are jaw droppingly incoherent and cringeworthy. We have to vote out the GOP in November and 2020!
Joe,
“Seriously, 63 millions voted for this miscreant?! His speeches/ramblings in Europe are jaw droppingly incoherent and cringeworthy. ” The 63 million had no better choice – Hillary? I guess you have to see if she runs in 2020 to give you hope…63 million heard what he was saying and not the polished political speak of Obama h ilk that people tired of and needed change…..
He draws a red line and acts on it as in Syria, not like the red lines of Obama.
What is interesting the Dems tell him not to meet – as in North Korea – and we had individuals here crying nuclear was was going to happen and running to build their shelters. But now we have dialogue, 3 individuals released and returned – no money exchanged like Obama, and remains returned – dialogue – no bombs, missiles fired but we are well aware that this will be a lengthy process –
Now we have Putin – dialogue –
What did he do in Syria? Remind me. Called the Russians to give them a warning. Sent missiles to hit an empty airfield. It was operational the next day.
Trump told NATO (again) that he is “a stable genius.” He says he has a very high IQ. I expect to see proof of that claim the same day he releases his tax returns. Smart people, really smart people, never say so. Only idiots brag about how smart they are. And everyone laughs and says, “Sure you are, honey. Sure. Don’t believe what people say about you.”
Trump is needy. He must be perceived as the greatest at everything, the toughest, the strongest, the best, the person who has the highest IQ, who went to the best school (Warton), and the best dealmaker even if he has been given a bad deck of cards by Obama and prior presidents.
He must blow his own horn and make others look incompetent, unworthy, inferior, or dangerous. He is being played for the lying fool that he is by the KGB expert Putin, aided by the Russian military intelligence officers Muller has indicted–who will escape trial and who are not just targeting our electoral system but also major networks of our digital infrastructure…along with other cyber hackers beyond Russia.
Text summary http://mynorthwest.com/1050512/intel-official-cyber-threat-warnings-blinking-red/
Putin, Trump and many among the political donor class share similar views.
Republican donor, Papa John, funds the John Schnatter Institute of Free Enterprise at the University of Louisville. Last year, the Institute presented a panel about charter schools. The event was sponsored by “The Outlook for K-12 under Pres. Trump”. The panel included no women. Of the 11 Institute staff members, 8 are White men. There’s one man and one woman with Asian sounding names and one White woman.
The bottom line is that Trump has lots and lots of Russian “mob” money, in Russia, the mob and the state are one and the same.
Trump has tapped tons of Russian moola, which is one reason he’s refused to release his tax returns, and in all likelihood, why Republicans in Congress refuse to force their release. Those returns would prove definitively the financial ties. But even without them, the ties have been well-established. The Financial Times did a deep look into the building of the Trump Tower in Toronto:
“Legal documents, signed statements and two dozen interviews with people with knowledge of the project and the money that flowed through it reveal that the venture connects the US president with a shadowy post-Soviet world where politics and personal enrichment merge…”
“it has become increasingly clear that many of the oligarchs who made their riches amid the downfall of the Soviet Union have protected their fortunes by advancing the interests of the ruling cliques at home. This wealth has been coursing through western markets, often disguised by shell companies. Trump’s sector, real estate, has long been susceptible to infusions of incognito money. A large proportion of sales of high-end US property takes place through companies whose true owners are hidden. A US Treasury investigation last year found that one in three cash buyers of top-end property was suspicious…”
“Trump has broken with presidential tradition by refusing to divest his holdings in the dozens of companies that comprise the Trump Organization or to release tax returns that might shine more light on what appear to be multitudinous conflicts of interest. In May last year, his decision to fire James Comey as head of the FBI triggered the appointment of Robert Mueller, himself a former FBI chief, as special counsel to investigate links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.”
https://www.ft.com/trumptoronto
Look, it’s clear. This is not hard to figure out. There was a very genuine royal screwing of the American Republic in November of 2016. Trump and the Trump campaign engaged in behavior that has to be called what it really is: treason. There’s no way around it. And while Trump and his tops dogs are directly responsible, there’s lots of blame to pass around. Charlie Pierce at Esquire calls it perfectly:
“Goddamn them all.”
“Goddamn the hackers. Goddamn the journalists who laundered the pilfered material. Goddamn any of them who treated Roger Stone as a source, or as a cute prankster, instead of the nasty vandal he’s always been. Goddamn the pundits who chortled over the pilfered material. Goddamn the politicians who profited from the hacking. Goddamn the politicians who minimized the hacking. Goddamn the politicians who still stonewall about the hacking. Goddamn the ‘activists’ who ranted about ‘McCarthyism’ when anybody pointed out that the 2016 presidential election had been poisoned from afar. Goddamn them all as traitors, if not to the American nation, then to everything that ever made that nation worth the bother.”
“They conspired, wittingly or unwittingly. They colluded, wittingly or unwittingly. They are accessories, before and after the fact, to the hijacking of a democratic election. So, yes, goddamn them all.”
And you know what? There are still people out there – hell, there are still commenters on this bog – who pretend to be unaware of just how serious this is, or worse, who purposefully turn a blind eye to it.
It’s going to get worse – and much weirder – before it gets better.
Gee. Maybe we should give some serous thought – when this is mostly over, if it ever really is – to the notion that public education in a democratic republic ought to teach and model the core values and principles on which the republic is based.
Goddamn us if we don’t.