What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[garbon]

It's still shocking.

And we've people who want to vote for that.

[Zanza]

The US is moving forward with President Donald Trump's plan to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany, a decision that has attracted bipartisan congressional opposition and roiled key allies who see the move as a blow to NATO.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper acknowledged the plan will cost billions to execute when he formally announced the decision on Wednesday from the Pentagon. US defense officials said it will take years to relocate the troops.

The plan to pull US troops from the long-time NATO ally has been met with broad bipartisan opposition amid concerns that it will weaken the US military's position vis a vis Russia, however the Trump Administration has decided to proceed with the move.

Trump defended the decision Wednesday, saying the troop drawdown was taking place because Berlin was not spending the NATO target of 2% of its GDP on defense and because Germany was taking "advantage" of the US.

"We spend a lot of money on Germany, they take advantage of us on trade and they take advantage on the military, so we're reducing the force," he told reporters at the White House.
"They're there to protect Europe, they're there to protect Germany, and Germany is supposed to pay for it," Trump added. "We don't want to be responsible anymore."

Defense officials, however, said Wednesday that the decision on where to house the US troops leaving Germany was not influenced by whether the new host country was meeting the 2% target.

In fact, Belgium and Italy, the two countries that will be receiving US troops from Germany, spend an even a smaller percentage on defense than Berlin does.

Approximately 11,900 US troops, a mix of Army and Air Force units, will be removed from Germany to meet Trump's mandated cap of 25,000 US forces in Germany, according to a senior US defense official, a number higher than the figure of 9,500 that was used when the reduction was first announced.

"The current EUCOM plan will reposition approximately 11,900 military personnel from Germany, from roughly 36,000 down to 24,000, in a manner that will strengthen NATO, enhance the deterrence of Russia, and meet the other principles I set forth," Esper told reporters, referring to US European Command which oversees US military forces on the continent.

Officials said the discrepancy was due to the fact that following a review it was found that there were slightly more US troops permanently assigned to Germany, about 36,000, than originally planned for.

Of the troops leaving Germany some 5,400 will be "staying in Europe," the official said. The remaining 6,400 forces and their families will be returned to the US and will in time redeploy to Europe.

Defense officials said this will cost billions of dollars as new military construction will likely be required both in Europe and the US to house the additional troops.

Key command centers being moved
Key US command centers will also be repositioned as part of the move, Esper and top military leaders confirmed Wednesday.

Gen. Tod Wolters, the commander of US European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the US would be moving EUCOM headquarters from Germany to Belgium as part of an effort to co-locate the command with the NATO military command headquarters that is based there, and that Africa Command headquarters may be moving to a location to be determined as well.

"We also intend to reposition three brigade-size headquarters, an air defense artillery battalion, and an engineering battalion to Belgium from Germany, and two smaller support and contracting organizations to Italy," Wolters told reporters at the Pentagon.

Wolters further specified that a F-16 fighter squadron would be moved from Germany to Italy, and that they anticipated moving two battalions from Germany to Italy as well.

The defense official confirmed that the repositioning will take "months to plan and years to execute," a timeline first revealed earlier this month by the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Jim Inhofe who had been briefed on the plan.

The timeline suggests that the plan could be reversed should Trump lose the election in November.

Oh noes. Trump is angry at us. I guess a majority of Germans actually appreciates this. Considering overall foreign policy, it is a symptom of our poor relations with the Trump administration, but it is hardly more than a gesture. It does not substantially change anything for Germany whether these troops are here or not.

I happen to live in the city which houses the European and African Command HQ and space is a premium here with some of the highest real estate prices and rents in Germany. So the US military giving up some of its installations here would be highly welcome as we can use that space to build more housing then. I guess some local business near the bases would feel the absence, also the bilingual schools, but the bases are mostly self-contained anyway with shops, entertainment, gyms etc. onsite. There is suprisingly little Americans noticeable in the city considering that there are thousands stationed here.

[The Minsky Moment]

So the logic is:

Germany isn't spending 2% of GDP on defense and thus is not contributing its fair share of collective NATO defense.

One of the areas German is contributing is by providing its territory for really useful and valuable military bases that extend American striking power, and by providing costly maintenance and upkeep expenses.

So the response is to pull out from the bases?

It's like complaining that  a buyer hasn't paid full purchase price and retaliating by sending back another 10% of the buyers money.

[crazy canuck]

It's still shocking.

asked if he knew that Russia was supplying weapons to the Taliban:

"I heard that but it never reached my desk"

[Syt]

[Razgovory]

If Trump loses I wonder if he use the period before the inauguration to pull the US out of the UN, WTO, etc

[crazy canuck]

He effectively already has.

[Valmy]

Did he also ensure no dragons or unicorns were going to invade my suburb?

[Syt]

Btw, I really dislike the condescending, patronizing "Enjoy" he tends to add to his "good news" tweets. (public holidays, stock market rise etc.)

[Valmy]

Btw, I really dislike the condescending, patronizing "Enjoy" he tends to add to his "good news" tweets. (public holidays, stock market rise etc.)

I just changed nothing at all! Enjoy!

[Sheilbh]

So on the GOP row over the new economic package I find this statement really interesting:


Mainly because of that last line. It feels like you wouldn't be calling out "Democrats and Trumpers" if you were confident in a second Trump term, but you might if you were trying to position yourself in the inevitable fallout.

And, obviously, as with Trump "why don't I have high ratings?", GOP Senators can read polls.

[Valmy]

I mean the Republicans have blown up the deficit three times and binge spent everytime they have been in office. I am just a little tired of their lies. But...at least these kinds of lies at least are about responsible government instead of whatever we have been doing since 2016.

[merithyn]

He just called poor people criminals.

[Oexmelin]

And black people, by the same token. Because, in a lot of American cities, when you say "low income housing", white people definitely hear "black people".

[Sheilbh]

And black people, by the same token. Because, in a lot of American cities, when you say "low income housing", white people definitely hear "black people".

Oh he's quite explicit about that:


Edit: I'm not sure that Trump's ever really used dog-whistles or "racially charged" language as much as he just says the quiet part out loud.