I’ve said it before many times. Donald Trump has the feral instincts of a big cat. He has an unerring sense of where his opponents’ weaknesses are and knows how to push just the right buttons to send them off into hysterical spasms of hate and loathing.
“NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said at a rally in Conway, South Carolina. “I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.”
One of the presidents of a “big country” asked Trump whether the U.S. would still defend them if they were invaded by Russia even if they didn’t pay.
“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recalled telling that president. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
Trump’s businesses have been sued hundreds of times for non-payment of bills. But that’s just part of the trolling that Trump is visiting on the media and the left. He knows the press is going to bring it up so when he says NATO allies should “pay your bills,” he does it with a wink and a nod.
And of course, the hand-wringing in the media over something that would never happen — Trump telling Putin to go ahead and invade a NATO country — only shows just how powerful the hold Trump has on the media and the left is.
The media gets hysterical because they believe voters just don’t understand how dangerous Trump is, how much of a threat he is to “democracy.” But Trump has been in the national spotlight in one way or another for most of this century. The American people know he’s trolling the left. They know it because of the over-the-top reactions from the media and Democrats.
“President Biden has restored our alliances and made us stronger in the world because he knows every commander in chief’s first responsibility is to keep the American people safe and hold true to the values that unite us,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “Thanks to President Biden’s experienced leadership, NATO is now the largest and most vital it has ever been. Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home.”
“Rather than calling for wars and promoting deranged chaos, President Biden will continue to bolster American leadership and stand up *for* our national security interests – not against them,” Bates continued.
How many lies and exaggerations can you find in that one statement? Suffice it to say, NATO is not stronger than it has been. Europe almost had a breakdown last month over whether to give Ukraine 50 billion euros. The U.S. is supplying three times the military aid to Ukraine than other European countries which, after all, are far more threatened by Putin’s Russia than the U.S.
But the media won’t take Biden to task for any of the exaggerations and falsehoods that come out of the White House every day. Instead, they have a collected apoplectic fit over Trump trolling them.
Trump: I’d encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want to NATO allies who don’t meet 2% defense spending targets.
If this doesn’t wake up European leaders still dragging their feet on arming #Ukraine & boosting 🇪🇺 defense production, nothing will.pic.twitter.com/kAgnW8pN0C
— Jessica Berlin (@berlin_bridge) February 11, 2024
EU leaders know that Trump is trolling them. They don’t have to “wake up” to anything. They may be aghast at the media’s willingness to do Trump’s bidding and plaster his words on screens all across the world. But they know what they’re getting if Trump wins.
This is why Trump is going to win in November. The voters see the disconnect between what the media is warning about Trump and the former president’s record. “Trump will do this” or “Trump will do that” if he’s elected is not a serious argument, and the voters aren’t convinced. Trump’s unpredictability has been his hallmark. How can anyone predict what he’s going to do if elected?
The more hysterical and unbalanced the response to Trump, the more support he picks up.