Correct, it is a spending goal, not a requirement. Or at most a soft requirement. Still, my point still stands, every NATO member on the “frontier” with Russia is meeting or exceeding that 2% goal. They are pulling their own weight. At least from what I recall, the three Baltic nations and Poland are all above the 2% GDP target, and I believe Finland, Romania, and Hungary are or will be as well.

The US and Trumps criticism of “freeloaders” could be seen to apply, but to the countries that aren’t anywhere near the frontlines. I think Luxembourg is less than 1% GDP of spending on military, and Canada is around 1.5%. Trumps criticism, if interpreted generously could be taken to mean that the US wouldn’t help Belgium, but if Belgium is invaded, there’s something big going wrong.

Realistically, Trump’s weak assertions would seem to signal that he doesn’t care if Latvia is pulling its weight, because it’s a small country and small countries deserve to be get eaten by bigger countries. This uncertainty is what would seem to have rattled European NATO countries and reignited the effort for a collective EU defence framework.

The other thing that bugs me with Americans whinging about “NATO freeloaders” is that Article 5, the collective defence clause, has been invoked once in the entire history of NATO. By the US after 9/11. And everyone stepped up. The US can complain about Canada’s military spending, but Canadian soldiers that were fighting and dying alongside the Americans in Afghanistan. It’s a bit rich coming from Trump, bone-spurs himself, that other NATO countries aren’t pulling their own weight.

It’s diplomacy though. Some things are better said behind closed doors as it were.

Going back to Cold War brinksmanship, the point of NATO was to loudly say that you were ride-or-die, go-to-the-wall with all your NATO homies. It made the risk of messing with NATO countries too high, likewise with the Warsaw Pact.

Now would all NATO allies go all in? 100%, all the way? Who can say with certainty. Still, so far there’s only been one US president who has said… it depends. For the record, Trump walked that back, but it certainly got a lot of NATO countries closer to Russia to quickly point out that they were over the NATO 2% GDP commitment.

Still, Article 5 has been invoked once in NATO’s history, and it was by the US. It’s why Canada was in Kandahar, Netherlands in Helmand, etc. Too my recollection, every single NATO country participated in Afghanistan at the US’s request.

Also, every NATO country on the frontier (as it were) is well over the NATO 2% GDP minimum. The three Baltic countries, Poland, the UK and the US have been over the 2% GDP minimum for a while. Finland is already well past that before joining, and I believe several more countries will hit the goal in 2023.

Bolton is an idiot.

Ok, and he still represents the warhawk/neocon type of thought in Washington.

How stupid you think he is doesn’t really change how Trump already had his mind made up on leaving NATO. I’m no fan of NATO, I think it will collapse eventually. Trump just further cracked an already strained relationship.

I’m right. I’m just not far right and we have few politicians who are. Most of them have little to no power anyways.

Seems like Gaetz just got your speak of house pruned didn’t he?

Its not like you have to be particularly far right to support Russia/ oppose arming Ukraine. " centrists " and Warhawks aside there isint too many vocal right wing voices supporting Ukraine.

Putin also didn’t realize how bad his army was and how effective the javelin is or how hard the Ukrainians would fight.

That situation would have been very different if Trump was in charge of the U.S.A when Russia rolled across the border.

He would have cut a deal with Russia at the expense of Ukranian territory like he did in Syria cutting a deal with Turkey.

The Russian’s nearly captured Mykolaiv. Had the Ukranian’s not received continued stinger and Jav support + other early equipment the situation could have been different. I don’t like playing the alternative history game but I disagree with your assessment of Trump fully.

He would not have played his cards like the Biden admin did.