'Ok folks, it's Me, your President In Begging, Donald Trump, just settle down out there and take a deeeeep breathe. It appears that my comments about coming to the aid of fellow NATO members has caused a just a Little more jitters than necessary. So, let me be perfectly 'clear' about what I said, meant to say, Should have said, and didn't say but Could have said. Perfectly clear. Listen to my voice.
It's like This, oh Sure we're gonna come to the aid of Any NATO member if they are attacked by some silly rogue nation, say like, Haiti, or Cuba, Bermuda, or even that south of the border border jumping Mexico. We're gonna 'help'. Gonna. But you know what, freedom ain't free folks. Not free! Not at all. It costs a lot of money to be 'free'. Lots! We can't just give 'freedom' away like it's money or something. Can't do it! It costs money to get money! It costs money to buy 'freedom'! I should Know! I'm not your average rich guy, I should Know! When I'm the official 'leader' of the 'free' world things are gonna change. Gotta change! And it'll be great! Because, you know what, I'm great! Then, lets say for instance, that some rogue nation like..ah..Bermuda, attacks France. Before we get into a long drawn out armigedan with that country, should we just willy-nilly come running with our bi-planes blazing away at everything that looks like a Bermudian without even looking at the big picture first? We gotta look folks! Gotta look first! Before you cross a dangerous street always look both ways before you start across. Danger! You don't wanna wind up as a friggin' 'road burger'! Even when I'm on one of my fabulous golf courses I always look both ways before my driver crosses the fairway.
Now about this NATO thing, For instance, did France say something Mean that caused Bermuda to attack them? In which case I'd say too bad for France! Besides, they Still don't speak english over there, it's hard to tell When they're saying mean things! They hate Americans! Has France done anything nice to help any other NATO member lately? Not? Oh well! See ya, wouldn't wanna Be ya! Now before we get into a shooting match, the victim NATO member would first have to had made an appointment to visit my office at the Chancellery..er..White House that is. Then after a while of proper reflection, and while they do some serious Sweating, I'd let them visit me. I'm gonna have a little booth with a curtain in it just like the Pope has when sinners come to get forgiven. Then they must bow, pay homage, kiss my pinkie ring, and do a proper amount of sucking up, and passing the 'envelope', just like it's done in the Real business world. Then, if I determine If they have paid their fair share of 'protection' money to make it worth our while to 'help' them, then maybe something can be done. I'd send a 'mouthpiece' to have a sitdown with Bermuda, usually that works real well unless they want to walk funny the rest of their lives. You see, we gotta run this country just like a big business. No more Mr. Nice guy! No free handouts. No 'pay', no 'play'. I'm a businessman! Sure, I'll be the king..er..President of America, but I'm a businessman first. That's the way it's gonna work. No more 'business as usual' around here!
So come On folks, get real here! Don't get your knickers in a twist! Play by My rules and things will somehow work out, remember, 'no pay, no play'. If you wanna play on My 'court', you gotta play by My 'rules'.
Now all you irrational paranoid, doomsday believing, rumorgongering, conspiracy theorists out there who see the You in Me, I direct you to get out there between now and election day and cause as much distrust of our greedy mindcontrolling government, especially of that crooked liar Hillary, as you can, Then vote me in as the 'leader' of the mindless, and you'll hardly ever realize how sorry you are.
Remember, a wasted VOTE is one that you'll have to live with for at least four long miserable years'. :/ :/
Donald Trump’s Remarks Rattle NATO Allies and Stoke Debate on Cost Sharing
LONDON — Donald J. Trump’s statement that the United States might not come to the defense of NATO allies that do not foot their share of the bill fueled anxiety on Thursday in a Europe that is already deeply unsettled about Russia’s assertive posture, Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union and the rise of inward-looking populist and nationalist parties.
In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Trump suggested that if elected president he would use a country’s level of military spending as a factor in deciding whether the United States would honor its commitment to defend any member nation that comes under attack. While President Obama and other American officials have also pressed European countries in recent years to increase military spending in line with their commitments to NATO, Mr. Trump more explicitly linked financial considerations to the strategic response he would order as president in the event of an attack by Russia.
His comments left some European officials concerned that the United States under Mr. Trump would edge away from the security guarantees that Washington has provided to the Continent since World War II. But they also stoked the debate over cost sharing after years in which Europe had been slow to meet its commitments on military spending.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general and a former prime minister of Norway, said that he “will not interfere in the U.S. election campaign,” but made clear that he was alarmed by Mr. Trump’s remarks.
“Solidarity among allies is a key value for NATO,” he said in a statement. “This is good for European security and good for U.S. security. We defend one another. We have seen this in Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of European, Canadian and partner-nation troops have stood shoulder to shoulder with U.S. soldiers.”
He added, “Two world wars have shown that peace in Europe is also important for the security of the United States.”
Article 5 of the 1949 treaty that set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization obliges any member of the alliance to come to the defense of another member if it comes under attack. The article has been invoked only once — after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
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“They have an obligation to make payments,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. “Many NATO nations are not making payments, are not making what they’re supposed to make.”
Asked whether the United States would come to the aid of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — three Baltic states that were invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940, and joined NATO in 2004 — in the event of a Russian invasion, Mr. Trump replied, “I don’t want to tell you what I’d do because I don’t want Putin to know what I’d do,” referring to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, for whom Mr. Trump has expressed admiration.
Reminded that NATO members are obligated by treaty to come to one another’s defense, Mr. Trump responded: “Have they fulfilled their obligations to us? If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.”
Asked on Thursday about Mr. Trump’s comments, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon of Britain snapped: “Article 5 is an absolute commitment. It doesn’t come with conditions or caveats.”
Less than two weeks ago, at a NATO summit meeting in Warsaw, Mr. Obama reassured America’s allies that “in good times and in bad, Europe can count on the United States — always.”
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the president of Estonia, took to Twitter to emphasize that his country was one of only five NATO members to meet the target that it spend 2 percent of gross domestic product — a broad measure of economic activity — on military spending. (The others are the United States, Britain, Poland and Greece.)
Mr. Ilves also noted that Estonia contributed troops to the fight in Afghanistan in keeping with Article 5.
Artis Pabriks, a former foreign and defense minister of Latvia, which borders Russia and has stepped up military spending, wrote on Twitter: “If Trump doubts NATO solidarity in the case of Article 5, then his election is dangerous for Baltic security.”
Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite, tried to calm her citizens. “Regardless of who becomes the next president of the U.S., we trust America,” she told reporters. “It has always defended nations under attack, and will do so in the future.”
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Ms. Grybauskaite added: “Lithuania — as well as other Baltic states — is doing everything it can. We are modernizing our armed forces, we have reinstituted conscription and our defense spending will reach 2 percent of G.D.P. in 2018. I do not think interpretations of candidate Trump’s remarks are necessary. We know that the U.S. will remain our most important partner.”
In Russia, Mr. Trump’s comments met with approval. Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign relations committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, contrasted Mr. Trump with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. “Clinton’s creed: strengthen the U.S.’s anti-Russian alliances. Trump’s creed: respond only to real threats,” Mr. Pushkov wrote. “Aggressive banality versus common sense.”
NATO’s 28 members pledged at summit meetings in Wales in 2014 and in Warsaw this month to do more to meet the 2 percent of GDP spending target, and Mr. Stoltenberg has made reaching that goal a priority.
Xenia Wickett, the head of the United States and Americas program at Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank based in London, said Mr. Trump was echoing — albeit in far less diplomatic terms — concerns raised by a succession of American secretaries of defense, including the three who have served Mr. Obama: Robert M. Gates, Leon E. Panetta and Ashton B. Carter.
“The U.S. is no longer willing to cover the approximately 75 percent of the NATO budget that it currently does,” Ms. Wickett wrote in an email. “Trump takes it to the extreme, which is new, but the direction is not new. Trump wants to see a more ‘fair’ division of labor.” She added, “Unfortunately, his way of expressing it is likely to aid our adversaries rather than assist the alliance.”
Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, the head of the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a research organization, said too much was being made of Mr. Trump’s remarks. She said the imbalance in NATO spending “is just not sustainable,” adding, “Trump is taking the burden-sharing debate to extreme levels, by directly calling into question U.S. responsibility as a NATO member state to fulfill its obligations under Article 5, in case a NATO member state got attacked by Russia.”
She added that European leaders needed to persuade their citizens “of the importance of investing in defense to face current and future security challenges.”
But Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, said he feared that Mr. Trump’s remarks would embolden autocratic and aggressive powers. “There is certainly a risk that he will encourage states like Russia and China to take the risk that U.S. will not stand up for its allies and its commitments, and that could be extremely dangerous for global stability,” he said. “He’s downplaying not only the defense of common interests, but also the defense of common values. Democracy seems nearly to be a derogatory term for him.”
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