Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO
WASHINGTON — There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years.
Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States.
. . . [T]he president’s repeatedly stated desire to withdraw from NATO is raising new worries among national security officials amid growing concern about Mr. Trump’s efforts to keep his meetings with Mr. Putin secret from even his own aides . . .
A move to withdraw from the alliance, in place since 1949, “would be one of the most damaging things that any president could do to U.S. interests,” said Michèle A. Flournoy, an under secretary of defense under President Barack Obama.
“It would destroy 70-plus years of painstaking work across multiple administrations, Republican and Democratic, to create perhaps the most powerful and advantageous alliance in history,” Ms. Flournoy said in an interview. “And it would be the wildest success that Vladimir Putin could dream of.” . . .
. . . An American withdrawal from the alliance would accomplish all that Mr. Putin has been trying to put into motion, the officials said — essentially, doing the Russian leader’s hardest and most critical work for him.
It’s a much longer piece — read it all. But that’s the nub.
America suffered a devastating sneak attack December 7, 1941 — but no one questioned that it was real, or who attacked (it was not some 400-pound guy sitting on his bed); and it served to unite the country in common purpose.
America suffered another devastating sneak attack in 2016 — and about 40% of Americans still don’t even realize it happened.
Or that it is ongoing.
Or how it is weakening us.
Instead, they’ve been made to fear immigrants (who are entering the country in ever lower numbers).
Against a far more powerful adversary, judo master Putin is winning.
Whether Trump is a witting or unwitting Putin tool, he has already done enormous damage.
I inherited the happy gene, so I’m hoping for the best and enjoying every minute of my currently awesome life. (I have hot water! As much as I want! Any time I want it!) Yet even under the best of circumstances, these are challenging times. And with an incompetent lying sociopath in office, seemingly doing Putin’s bidding? And Republican enablers in the Senate?
I’d say, “have a great weekend!” but it’s only Thursday.
Tomorrow, something more upbeat: How we can lower the heat and talk to each other. We have loads of common ground.
