Commentary
Seemingly, a day doesn’t go by without someone in the media, or someone being interviewed, voices concern that if former President Trump wins, he will do this or that, even though he didn’t do so in his first four years; like retribution against Hillary Clinton.
Most likely, they’re simply trying to stir up a controversy to make news – fake news – however, in doing so, they are spreading disinformation. It’s right out of the Democrat playbook, with borrowed tactics from Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
In their search for controversy, they agitate, build resentment and fan hostilities for MAGA in an effort to question the opposition’s motives or agenda.
With Trump, their lawfare plan to tie him up in court didn’t work. His polls improved and fund raising along with them. Their threat of the risk he posed to democracy didn’t work as voters weren’t buy it.
With the NATO summit in Washington, the White House had planned to use it to spotlight President Biden’s support of the alliance, but with his poor debate performance and politics overshadowing that plan, they’re just hoping he can escape a major gaffe.
In Biden’s brief kickoff address he seemed to take credit for the increase in countries spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense without mentioning Trump, but NBC News noted, Biden seeks to undermine a Trump talking point in NATO summit address.
It was with Trump’s insistence that American taxpayers were shouldering too much of the load for NATO, that he successfully pressured members pay up.
The NATO meeting here, however, provided the media with another opportunity to attack Trump. They dug up the 2016 chatter of Trump referring to the alliance as obsolete. But in their usual fashion they failed to do their homework.
Biden’s so-called “big boy presser” last night was supposedly getting a close look by Democrats. How did he do? I think the 37 percent of voters who used to say the Biden administration was on the right track probably thought he did okay. Okay.
Looking Back
It’s true that during a May 2017 meeting in Brussels, the European leaders were wary of Trump’s “America first” theme, as he spoke of the unfairness to U.S. taxpayers in the funding of NATO. But by the end of the day, the leaders unanimously approved a resolution on burden-sharing and on fighting terrorism.
By May of 2018, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was in Washington, praising Trump, thanking him for his leadership in pushing countries in the alliance to boost their defense spending.
Reuters reported that “some diplomats pointed out that four years of Trump as president from 2017-2021 did not spell the end of NATO.”
During an extensive interview of Stoltenberg by Robbie Gramer for the publication Foreign Policy in April 2024, Stoltenberg confirmed the good relationship he had formed with Trump. It was in 2019 that Trump said, “I think he’s doing a fantastic job. I’m a big fan.”
It’s unlikely you’ll hear anything positive about Trump and NATO in the so-called mainstream media with its anti-Trump bias.
Ironically, it’s the left-leaning Politico, however, assigning a team of five reporters to research and author a Special Report: The world wasn’t ready for Trump in 2016. It’s not making that mistake this time.
In their piece, they wrote of “NATO allies who are consulting Trump advisors, holding secret meetings to feverishly lay the groundwork for his return.”
At a monthly breakfast meeting of ambassadors, a top envoy from one of the countries asked his colleagues where they were engaged in a fool’s errand, according to Politico. “Can we really prepare for Trump? Or do we rather have to wait and see what the new reality would look like.?”
Folly or not, the preparations are underway. Politico wrote of a discussion with the German newspaper Welt to discuss how the world is preparing for Trump’s possible return.
“What emerged was a picture of a world already bending to Trump’s will and scrambling to inoculate itself against the disruptions and crisis that he might instigate,” Politico reports.
What Others Are Saying
Acknowledging those meetings between Europeans and Trump advisors, a headline in Bloomberg News reads, “NATO Allies Gloomy on Biden’s Prospects Seek Out Trump Circle.” Biden’s opening remarks at the NATO summit were strong, but “It wasn’t enough to quiet growing doubts about his chance of winning reelection in November,” it was noted.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote that Biden saw the summit as a chance to persuade his own party and the U.S. public that he’s capable of running the country, while looking ahead the board believes that the biggest threat to the alliance isn’t the return of Donald Trump.
Mr. Biden’s debate performance sent shock waves throughout the international system, according to Walter Russell Mead in his Wall Street Journal column, A Debate Heard ‘Round the World, in which he quoted a text sent to Politico by a European diplomat: “Internationally this isn’t a great look for America, at the risk of stating the obvious.”
What About the Future?
Because the Republican Party’s 2024 platform is primarily an America first document, you won’t see NATO specifically mentioned, however, under “Strategic Alliances,” it is noted that the party will strengthen alliances by ensuring that our allies must their obligations to invest in our Common Defense and by restoring peace to Europe.
Rest assured that Trump, if elected, will work to restore respect for America and its leadership.
May God continue to bless the United States of America
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