Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

G.O.P. Officials, Once Critical, Stand by Trump After NATO Comments
New York Times ^ | Feb. 12, 2024 | Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

Posted on 02/12/2024 7:59:09 AM PST by conservative98

After Donald J. Trump suggested he had threatened to encourage Russia to attack “delinquent” NATO allies, the response among many Republican officials has struck three themes — expressions of support, gaze aversion or even cheerful indifference.

[cut]

In a phone interview on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina seemed surprised to even be asked about Mr. Trump’s remark.

“Give me a break — I mean, it’s Trump,” Mr. Graham said. “All I can say is while Trump was president nobody invaded anybody. I think the point here is to, in his way, to get people to pay.”

[cut]

Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican Party’s top-ranking official on the Senate Intelligence Committee, struck a matter-of-fact tone as he explained on CNN on Sunday why he was not bothered in the least.

“He told the story about how he used leverage to get people to step up to the plate and become more active in NATO,” Mr. Rubio said on “State of the Union,” rationalizing and sanitizing Mr. Trump’s comments as just a more colorful version of what other U.S. presidents have done in urging NATO members to spend more on their own defense. “I have zero concern, because he’s been president before. I know exactly what he has done and will do with the NATO alliance. But there has to be an alliance. It’s not America’s defense with a bunch of small junior partners.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: 1worldgovernment; biden; globalism; globohomo; lindseygraham; maga; marcorubio; nato; obama; oldskoolwargamer2; peacethroughstrength; russia; standwithtrump; tomcotton; trump; trump2024; trumpwasright; ukraine; worldgovernment
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last
To: armourenthusiast

Well, Russia’s spies like to lie that Trump hired whores to dance and pee on a bed 0bama apparently once slept on, while helping Hillary try to win an election and impeach Trump, later.

Russia hates Trump more than they hate Biden or Clinton, that’s for sure.


21 posted on 02/12/2024 11:03:46 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: oldskoolwargamer2

You are a very poor war gamer, it would appear.

Remember, Reagan was constantly called, by that same media, “A cowboy who has his finger on the nuclear trigger.”

Alarmist responses from hard left Liberal media sources should be a given, when planning policies, strategies, and tactics.

Why can’t you understand this, with your apparent senior years, under your belt?


22 posted on 02/12/2024 11:08:00 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: conservative98

Trump is right. We are not the milch cow of the WORLD. OUR FUNDING THEIR DEFENSE IS OUR FUNDING THEIR SOCIALISM


23 posted on 02/12/2024 11:08:11 AM PST by ZULU (DUMP RONA ROMNEY MCDANIELS!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind
Remember, Reagan was constantly called, by that same media, “A cowboy who has his finger on the nuclear trigger.”

Yippee Kay-Yay Mother........!

24 posted on 02/12/2024 11:11:13 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: conservative98

Obama defends 2014 Crimea response: ‘We challenged Putin with the tools we had at the time’

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4063939-obama-defends-2014-crimea-response-in-cnn-interview/#:~:text=“Ukraine%20of%20that%20time%20was,views%20that%20Russia%20was%20representing.”

The 2014 response was feckless and opened the door for Donbass invasion.


25 posted on 02/12/2024 11:12:48 AM PST by stateofit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

Reagan would have turned it into some sort of gentle poke about buying on credit or something like that. Subtle, yet everyone would get the point. But he was one of the greatest politicians (and Presidents) of all time. Trump, not so much. Terminal diarrhea of the mouth.


26 posted on 02/12/2024 11:14:04 AM PST by oldskoolwargamer2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: stateofit

“The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back.”


27 posted on 02/12/2024 11:14:13 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: oldskoolwargamer2

As a war gamer, have you ever heard of “not playing by the enemies playbook?” This is a simple concept of war gaming.

You need to be aware of their book, but play in ways that provide incredible asymmetrical advantages.

Trump constantly uses that to his advantage, as now all MSM sites and Lincoln Project/RINOs have been identified as the perverse liars they always were, but weren’t commonly seen as being. Now, they are.

Trump turns lemons into lemonade, but you are one of the clueless ones who are offended both personally, and on behalf of others, when you should be clued into how being brash, truthful, yet humorous against Professional Liars leads to remarkable gains. Take the current Argentina and El Salvador presidents, for instance. The first cussed out the elites and their sacred cows before their election day, and terminated most government departments, once elected. In El Salvador, it took a guy with a Palestinian heritage to create a massive prison to humiliate and frustrate many tens of thousands of criminals, 24 hours a day, yet, crime has quickly dropped over 50%.

It takes mold breakers, or perhaps in your case, people who defy your ability to reason, to create a new paradigm.

You old schoolers don’t really get anything done, do you? After all, our current messes are because of you.


28 posted on 02/12/2024 11:25:25 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

Well, not sure how asymmetrical it is to constantly hand your opponent gifts.

In the words of Napoleon: “Never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake” Trump just can’t help himself.

He has been gifted with terrible opponents in Hillary and Biden, barely won one election, lost another, and is a little better than even money in the current one. A serious candidate would be burying Biden by 20 points.


29 posted on 02/12/2024 11:38:46 AM PST by oldskoolwargamer2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: conservative98

Having spent 10 years of my military career stationed in West Germany, I have seen West Germany get away with the USA covering their asses for decades!! Back when we used to go to the massive training, live fire base in Germany called Grafenwöhr, there were thousands of American, Brits and French troops out there banging away. You saw less than 250 German troops. I saw few West German military bases as compared with the massive US troops all over the darn country. Yeah, we covered the entire European continent with troops, covering every country from the East-West borders dividing the West from the Soviet bloc. All of them got over like fat rats. We covered; they did not pay a dime. Oh, and we paid to rebuild Europe after the war. WE the US citizens, not them.


30 posted on 02/12/2024 12:00:54 PM PST by RetiredArmy (The Bible speaks truth! Don't believe it, you do so at your own peril. You'd better be right!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservative98

Geez. Liberals are so stupid it’s funny.

Trump was at a rally. It’s practically a joke. A tongue in cheek way of making a point.

Get a grip libtards.


31 posted on 02/12/2024 12:06:11 PM PST by Fledermaus (Is it me, or all of a sudden have the buried trolls come out on FR like cicadas? It's all noise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservative98
As of 2023


32 posted on 02/12/2024 12:31:22 PM PST by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservative98

After Donald J. Trump suggested he had threatened to encourage Russia to attack “delinquent” NATO allies,.
The money came pouring in.

He’s right NATO thinks the U.S. should use it weapons and men and women to protect them free BS.

Security has to be paid for we pay for it here police taxes fire dept. taxes..........................................


33 posted on 02/12/2024 2:19:28 PM PST by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oldskoolwargamer2
You provide an excellent summary of your limited thinking, by quoting Napoleon (which I think was originally said by Sun Tzu).

What you accredit to “mistakes” are a tactic that wins. Trump's fake impeachments and all the work done to rid the world of him has always been there, but people like George Bush played nice with such strong forces.

You take Trump's battle with them as failure, but it has served to lead a great many to his side, as he's opened everyone eyes to the true battle. It is not just an election lost, it is a much larger conspiracy to blind and pervert all justice and elections that was not previously seen. The battle is far bigger than you comprehend. The enemy was even the GOPE, with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell making sure the Wall they previously promised, would never be timely built. It was both of them, and the other RINOs, that also conspired against Trump and the People, along with all Democrats, the MSM, and the Deep State.

No serious candidate can compete with fraud and lies, and when your own party conspires against you, along with all the rest, the work Trump did get done was incredible.

What other president had too fake impeachments thrown at him, completely biased, and without any substance? You don't “make nice” with evil—you get rid of it or overcome it.

You are of the mind that if a leader just speaks more nicely, the opposition would be willing to side with you.

How does that really work, in real life? According to your approach, Ukraine just needed to be nicer with Russia, Taiwan just needs to be nicer with China, and people being raped just need to kiss and gladly put out for their rapists.

You are a sick person.

34 posted on 02/12/2024 2:42:00 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: oldskoolwargamer2

bttt


35 posted on 02/12/2024 2:44:34 PM PST by linMcHlp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

You are reading way, way more into what I said than any normal person would. You are blinded by the cult of personality. Making bold and provocative statements is fine until they lead to losing a winnable election.

Here’s the thing - if he loses this election, it doesn’t matter what tactics, strategy, whatever, Trump employs. My only point was that making idiotic statements like Trump made about NATO and Putin is playing right into the hands of his opponents.

The Trump cult seems to forget that in order to make policy, you first have to win elections.


36 posted on 02/12/2024 5:16:23 PM PST by oldskoolwargamer2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: conservative98
Trump's message to NATO was "pay your share and carry your load, or the US won't take the burden of either for you anymore!"

Some will get it, some won't. Trump definitely got Europe's and Russia's attention for it.

37 posted on 02/12/2024 5:54:32 PM PST by Widget Jr (🇺🇸 Trump 2024 🇺🇸)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oldskoolwargamer2

My point is that Trump said nothing idiotic.

Any man knows this.


38 posted on 02/12/2024 6:10:21 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: xzins
Should we spend blood and treasure defending a nato deadbeat that refuses to participate in defending itself? Trump said, in his sarcastic way, not really.

The argument over how hard to push Europe to pay for its own defense will become moot before long, given our present “leaders”’ unwillingness to drastically cut back spending. We will soon reach a point where we will simply not be able to afford to defend a broad array of other nations and still retain the capacity for our own defense. So it’s in Europe’s best interest, as well as our own, to push them to stand on their own sooner rather than later. And if that requires a little use of a cattle prod to get them moving, then so what? Fear tends to focus the mind, and I think the self-indulgent Eurotrash, who for far too long have let us pay for their defense while they redirected those funds into their extravagant welfare states, definitely will need serious prodding to wake them up. It’s either that, or we just keep kicking that can down the road, and one day soon Europe suddenly wakes up to an America that has no choice but to immediately and without warning cut them loose.

Trump is using the specter of abandoning them to Russia’s tender mercies to shock them back to reality. I think this is brilliant and it also has a probably much more important benefit: Threatening to stop protecting “allies” who take our services for granted just might stop current efforts to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency dead in their tracks. At the end of the day, the “full faith and credit” of the United States that backs all those dollars really just means our willingness to act as the global police, and to send our military to protect a number of countries that gladly accept that protection while simultaneously stabbing us in the back everyday. Might be a good idea to remind those alleged “allies” as well that there are wolves at their door, and if they continue to plot against our interests we will just remove our protection and see how they fare fighting the wolves on their own.

The world is full of scheming scumbags who constantly plot to undermine us, no less among our vaunted European “allies” than in obvious slime pits like Saudi Arabia, as just one example. The best way to deal with scumbags is to keep them on a short leash, and a little fear is sometimes a necessary motivator. Anything less is just seen as weakness by the scumbags, and leads to them exploiting their relationship with the U.S. for their own selfish purposes.

We can be used, or we can be respected, but not both. We had better start choosing wisely.

39 posted on 02/13/2024 4:27:34 AM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

“while Trump was president nobody invaded anybody.”

Russia’s “Wagner Group” would disagree.


40 posted on 02/14/2024 2:45:51 AM PST by Does so ( 🇺🇦...Motels for Migrants give legitimate addresses for mail-in ballots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson