Like so often, I agree with Alexander. It is idiotic not to take Trump literal and seriously. Despite his vomiting of insane ideas, we ought to have learned by now that he WILL act on over half of them. It is Russian Roulette which ones he will go for and which ones someone can talk him out of. Now in 2025, only idiots underestimates the threat of the American Neo-Fascist administration. He is telegraphing his hostility very loudly. It’s dumb not to prepare for the worst.
https://x.com/APHClarkson/status/1890133621878477185
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That’s Trump staking out a starting position. It’s not necessarily what he thinks Europe should spend. It’s more but it’s not infinitely more. The US spends ~3.5% of its GDP on defense. Why shouldn’t Europe?
A better question is why should America pay for Europe’s defense? Shouldn’t Europe spend that on itself? And if Europe doesn’t and Russia over-runs Europe, why is that on America and not Europe?
More or less hilarious than the 15 million vacant homes in the U.S.?
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Completely irrelevant, hombre. America isn’t a communist state.
I thought we were discussing comedy, boludo.
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Ha! I should have known your posts were comedic! My mistake!
You are talking at the wrong person. Literally, if you have ever read anything I have written on this forum the last 3 years, then it should come as no shock to you that I agree that post 2022, European states should spend more on defense and arms industry. But that’s not the point. The point is that the US is lying all the fucking time. And it’s absolute bullshit about negotiation position. There is no brilliant plan behind the Trump admins ramblings, it’s spontanious bullshit that they run after. Demanding NATO spends 3 percent is fine, it was 2 percent Trump demanded now just recently, but I wholeheartedly agree, it’s far from enough as I have harped on about countless time previously. Eratically jumping to fucking 5 on a whim and shocking everyone and dropping it as a bomb is not ok. This is not a small number and I hope you understand that. The difference between having a TN of 3 or 5 is Godzilla-like. There is no strategy behind this. He repeatedly asks for higher and higher numbers, giving no explanation what so ever. Also, US itself spends far less than 5 % so it can go fuck itself with something painful before they dare utter the number 5% out of their dirty mouth.
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I wouldn’t want to be Magnus’ dog right now…
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I buried him several years ago under a tree.
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Your answer is very emotional. So let me explain a few things.
First, as I’ve repeated over and over and over again, I think Trump is unfit for President. I’m not going to say anything more than that.
Next, nobody here in America thinks 5% is real. It’s a starting negotiating position. And it’s an obviously transparent one at that.
Finally, the problem is that America has been told by Europe and Canada for decades that they would get their defense spending higher. And apart from some countries such as Poland and the Baltics, this has been complete and utter bullshit. When you’ve been LIED TO for decades, don’t be surprised when someone comes and makes unreasonable demands after you have not done what you’ve said you would do. (Third person you, not you literally.)
America is done with this.
Europe has made a choice.
When the options have been
a.) spend more on self-defense, or
b.) spend more on social programs and let the Americans defend you
Most of the time, Europe has chosen (b). What you are seeing in the Trump administration is a reaction to Europe taking advantage of America and spending on social programs for decades while America spends on their defense.
America is finished with this.
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You are ok. It’s many, many years ago. I was 18 when I buried him. I haven’t ever had a dog after that one, just cats. He was the best though ! 
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Europe’s economy is multiple times larger than Russia.
Europe’s manufacturing base if many times larger than Russia.
Europe’s population is 3x higher than Russia.
Europe’s legal code and culture is way, way, way better than Russia.
So why is Europe so dependent on America to defend it against Russia?
Europe has made a political choice. Europe has decided that socialism is more important than defense.
America doesn’t want to fund that anymore.
And why should it?
Apart from all the rest of your legions of rethorical questions (many of them would be very time consuming to answer since they are nuanced, as I am sure you are aware), I will note that Russia is the most populous state in Europe by a very wide margin.
Note that you write as if you do no realise that Europe is just a geographical unit and not a political unit (The EU is no state). It is just a geographical unit. Russia is by far the strongest country in Europe militarily and the legacy heir of the Soviet Union.
Prior to 2014, European states were traditionally pushing for integration with Russia but were mostly blocked by…The United States that refused to allow this.
Anyway, I am off to bed. I actually agree with some of what you say, I agree that European politicians have played safe (i.e. cowardly) and not taken the hard decisions for instance, as well as failed to campaign and convince the electorate that defense spending (well, building capacity) is imperrative. But none of that excuses what the T-admin is doing right now.
Also, before I become too agreeable, please do remember and note that the interests of Germany and Spain vastly differs, so EU does not equal a country or a state.
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No, but America should employ quite a few of the “socialistic” measures if it wants to fix itself.
It does not need another round of multi-trillion tax cuts. It does, however, need a second New Deal, compared to which Biden’s Infrastructure Bill and IRA are peanuts. It also needs a massive trust-breaking campaign comparable to the early 1900s Progressive Era, starting with Elonia the clown.
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Let me explain WTF is going on in Europe right now. And I don’t give a flying **** if I get banned for it. My family hails from Kent and all around Scotland, and I love the UK. But there is a complete disconnect between the left wing political & elite class and the British population with the geopolitical threats the UK faces.
Right now, the Russian navy is mapping out the underground topography of the seas around the UK. In a time of war, the cables that connect the UK from the rest of the world will be cut. The British population will have no means of contact with the rest of the world other than by satellite.
As for power, the Russians could not have sabotaged the UK any better than themselves. By adhering to an ideological climate agenda, Britain has destroyed its competitive advantage by shutting down its hydrocarbon power sources. Now, Britain’s power costs 3-5x more than America’s, which has accelerated the gutting of Britain’s industrial base and its ability to make steel and other components necessary to defend itself in a time of war.
Mind you, America is not much better. But at least America has recognized the problem, and has enacted policies and reforms to address these issues.
So while America is spending enormous resources rebuilding its industrial base, why the **** should America underwrite the defense of the UK and Europe when they are living in this alternative ideological fantasyland of rainbows and unicorns? Americans are now thinking “The British and Europeans have made their choice. They value social programs more than defense. If someone attacks them, they have to live with it. It’s not on us to defend them.”
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I don’t know what the founding commitments of NATO were. If anyone knows, I’d love to be informed. From general knowledge, I know there was an agreement that if one state is attacked, then the whole will respond. That was a very powerful deterrent.
Was there anything in the founding charter for NATO about spending commitments?
Also, it seems to me that the goalposts have shifted. At the founding of NATO, the Soviet Union was perceived as the enemy. A collective agreement was entered into, for the good of everyone.
These days it is not altogether clear whether America, under Trump, is more of a friend to Russia than Western Europe. So the sense of having a common enemy has disappeared and we are entering into a strange new world.
To my mind Europe needs to pull together its own armed and high tech defense, with nuclear capability. America is unreliable. Russia has expansionist aims. Europe needs to look after number one, and NATO is rapidly becoming yesterday’s arrangement.
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Republicans are idiots and unfit for government. Republicans are treasonous and their supporters need to be locked up. This is what the democrats (and others) need to start repeating. Nuance in the face of this treason won’t cut it. It’s time for those not on the far right to return fire and make it clear that all republicans and their supporters face losing everything of they don’t repudiate these positions.
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