Trump Misses Opportunity For Serious Defense Spending Discussion

Democrats aren’t the only major party saddled with an elderly presumptive nominee who isn’t as sharp as he used to be.

Former President Donald Trump, who would be well advised to step back and allow Democrats to consume themselves over the Hur report on Joe Biden’s diminished capacity, decided to shift the spotlight back to himself. In a very bad way.

In remarks at a rally in South Carolina, Trump told the crowd he would have no problem letting Vladimir Putin have his way with NATO allies who weren’t spending enough on defense.

‘The president of a big country stood up and said “if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” I said you didn’t pay, you’re delinquent? He said, “yes, let’s say that happened”.

‘No, I would not protect you, in fact I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want, you gotta pay! You gotta pay your bills.’

Setting aside the idea of a serial bankruptee telling anyone to pay their bills, this makes Trump sound a bit like a cheapskate trying to shake down the neighbors.

This is a problem when one considers that there is a very real policy case to be made that many NATO members – even in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – still aren’t meeting the alliance’s 2% of GDP goal for defense spending.

This makes them free riders on the rest of the alliance – the U.S., of course, but also those other members who meet and exceed the 2% threshold.

According to NATO’s own data on member defense spending for 2023, every member has increased defense spending since 2014. But even with those increases, 19 nations still don’t meet the 2% goal (including France, Germany, Italy and Canada).

The biggest spender on defense is…Poland, followed by the U.S., And a line of nations that used to be under Russian heel also meet or exceed the 2% level, including the Baltics, Finland, Romania, and Hungary.

Another way to look at it: the closer a country is to Putin’s empire, the more likely they are to spend more on their defense.

Trump could have made this argument rooted in facts. He could have called out, by name, those nations that are among the biggest free riders (Canada? Turkey? Way to go, folks). Instead, he sounded like a Hollywood heavy.

Or as Humphrey Bogart put it, “the cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”

We could and should have a serious discussion of what NATO is, what its role in the world should be, and of immediate importance, what member nations should do to roll back Putin’s war. We’re not likely to get anything close to that discussion out of Donald Trump.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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