Macron is not a jerk, he is a politician who is doing what he must do in the wake of Donald Trump's remarks. Any European leader who dutifully agrees to buy American arms with no commensurate contribution to the cause of the war by the US, will be run out of office as a patsy for Trump.
Trump profits while French taxpayers pay? Few European leaders will be politically foolish to take that proposal to their people.
This is not a transactional situation. The amount of money that the United States is spending on the Ukraine war is trivial when one considers the sheer tonnage of waste that our government indulges every year, all as exposed by DOGE. We have not spent $380 billion, Trump has continually misled the nation by parroting that number.
We are at risk of being miserly, penny wise and pound foolish, even greedy, at a time when we need statesmanship. Our alliances, especially those alliances in the Pacific rim where we desperately need allies against China, are watching us.
First, Trump excoriates our ally, Ukraine (yes our ally!), Negotiates against Ukraine's interest, he accedes to all Russia's demands at the beginning of negotiations, he humiliates the President of Ukraine in an effort to bludgeon that country into accepting Russia's demands, when this campaign fails, he flip-flops and takes the other side.
But he takes the other side only at profit. Our allies, our potential allies around the world, are not blind to this travesty.
