It's Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, in an interview at the NYT, with the stunning headline: "The Head of NATO Thinks President Trump 'Deserves All the Praise.'"
Rutte is the one about whom Trump said: "I think he likes me. 'Daddy, you’re my daddy.' He did it very affectionately."
So, "without him being re-elected president," means: If we had Kamala Harris as president. If we didn't have "daddy," if we had "mommy." If we didn't have Daddy, we would never, ever, ever have been able to get to the 5% deal.
The NYT interviewer asks Rutte if he "did what [he] did to pacify President Trump’s ego and have a successful summit" or if Trump really sees "flattery... as weakness" so it will "only appeases him for so long."
Rutte, resisting that bait, took command of the conversation: "I was prime minister of the Netherlands for 14 years, so I know about criticism, but I don’t care. In the end, I need to do my job. I have to keep the whole of NATO together. And the biggest ally is the United States. That biggest ally has paid, since Eisenhower, more than the Europeans. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we will equalize between what the U.S. is paying and what the Europeans are paying. And without Trump, that would not have happened."
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19 comments:
Momala wouldn’t cut it?!
It needed a man for the abstracting away from feelings, and Trump in particular for deal making skills.
Seriousness is a sub-genre of frivolity, not an opposite. Trump runs them both at once.
We'll see whether the Euros and Canada live up to their promises. It'd make more sense for us to simply leave Europe and get our ground troops out. They don't need us to protect them from Russia, which cant even conquer Ukraine.
Oh, I just noticed its 5 percent by 2035 and of course Trump leaves in 2028. Ok - so I'll bet every dollar that in 2035, no one is at 5 percent except the USA.
Maybe it wasn't the right time for 'Brat' NATO.
Seriously, consider this country and the world 6 months into a Kamala administration vs where we are now. My Word. Entire galaxies apart.
"That biggest ally has paid, since Eisenhower, more than the Europeans. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we will equalize between what the U.S. is paying and what the Europeans are paying. And without Trump, that would not have happened."
Correct. Worth repeating. Rutte is right. But we'll see what happens.
If President Trump has a million fans, I am one of them. If he has no fans, it's because I am dead. Yet I find this not only creepy, but patently insincere.
President Trump has made it very clear that the US will begin focusing its attention to Asia. In theory, the belligerent yet advanced nations of Europe van protect themselves. But they keep trying to welch on the commitments they are making!
Worst case scenario, Putin expands the war and reveals exactly how unprepared NATO is.
RCOCEAN II said...
Oh, I just noticed its 5 percent by 2035 and of course Trump leaves in 2028. Ok - so I'll bet every dollar that in 2035, no one is at 5 percent except the USA.
7/5/25, 8:27
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Nevermind facts...
they are "WINNING!" Look at all the dead civilian numbers the Israelis are putting up with our help. Even today, we're still scoring points... how many lives can be taken? The more that go, the more the land is cleared.
Starvation works, but it takes time...
Still, it's good we all came together as a country yesterday to celebrate that death count. Without us, Israel never could have put up those record-breaking numbers...
If you liked Iraq/Afghanistan, the chest thumpers must be on a week-long hard on! WIN-ning, WINNING, WINNING!
Have a hotdog and keep cheering. Nevermind those scores of American kids dead at the summer camp, I hear Israel's still taking out hundreds per week in case they are ever threatened in the future. The more ethnic cleansing they can get away with now under the banner of WINNING, the more the old men here are happy.
Ann, you must be exhausted. He's a lil fella, but just getting into position for the wifely duty every day with such an excitable boy must keep you from the blog of late, eh? lol. Enjoy you kids! It doesn't matter his aprodeciac if it keeps him hard, eh? Winning Winning Winning. Poor dead kids likely never new what him em... HEH
Does meade refer to Trump as "Daddy"?
Curious minds want to know your husband's kink. lol. He's turned you on to "Daddy" too, it seems...
You always were Daddy's girl, no? Lol.
"Momala wouldn’t cut it?!"
There are all sorts of mommies out there. There's the kind who bake pies and others who just get baked.
Rutte is far enough away from US politics to realize Trump offers something for everyone. In the NATO case, it's successful pressure for the European members to spend more money on defense, and well, even 'righties' in Europe are basically socialists who love government spending. Plus a NATO with more money will hire more Eurocrats like Rutte. All at the low, low price of enduring some Trumpery.
Over here, the left don't realize that most MAGA programs are leftist, or at least left-ish. More border spending - jeez, it's a dry TVA. And most of the people involved in border enforcement are Hispanic citizens. To update LBJ, the Dems could have brownies voting for them for a hundred years if they adopted border security.
And don't get me started on MAGA industrial policy. Trump's trying to do exactly what all socialist parties do. Create a comfortably-living working class.
Of course, the Dems' salaries depend on their not seeing all this.
RR
JSM
"Worst case scenario, Putin expands the war and reveals exactly how unprepared NATO is."
Or even worst case scenario, NATO launches a war and attacks Russia, and finds out what Napoleon and Hitler found out.
Oh please. These EU guys are nothing but ass kissing suck-ups trying to keep the defense gravy train flowing. Kick these adult children living rent free in America's basement out already. If they can't defend themselves after 80 years of peace and prosperity, but disarmed and instead built welfare states, then they're hopeless. Reality bites. Hard.
It's impossible to argue. Trump's hectoring got many more NATO countries to increase their spending up to 2%. Trump also got NATO countries to commit to 5% by 2035.
Does anyone believe that European leaders are calling Biden, and asking him to engage? My theory is that Biden is finally getting his phone messages from four years ago.
I wonder if this is an early sign of the preference cascade of foreign leadership. Maybe some of the smarter ones are starting to look more carefully at the hobby horses they're presently riding. I don't give the EU much more than 5 years.
NATO’s function is to keep Europe safe during its transition to Islam from Russia.
In politics, saying you intend do something 10 years from now, barring the unforeseen, is considered a triumph.
Credit where credit is due.
"Oh, I just noticed its 5 percent by 2035 and of course Trump leaves in 2028. Ok - so I'll bet every dollar that in 2035, no one is at 5 percent except the USA."
I'll raise that. The USA will be below 5% too.
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