Our list of allies grows thin! Our list of enemies grows long! Trump thread continued.

[TheClaws]

The above is a quote from The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, said by Lord Elrond. At this stage, with POTUS practically pissing off every ally the US has while cosying up with several dictators, it seems quite apt.

Previous thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3283037-trump-puts-kids-in-cages-because-he-wants-his-wall-how-low-can-he-go-the-authoritarian-shitshow-continues

Trump turned up late, again, today. Arrogant piece of shit. Some sort of emergency session is about to take place. As I said yesterday, leaders should forget the nicey, nicey and either clean his clock or ignore him. No quarter. They are allowing this filthy lowlife to highjack the institutions that, for all their faults, have bound us in some sort of order. Time to be planning to ditch the US because we must be better than this. If they are now going to give in to him in any way, they are spineless fools.

Prescience embodied:
www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/national-security-gop-donald-trump.html

allies told Trump that talks w/Putin could be useful but urged him to stress the importance of international rules-based order.
If this is factually correct, one has to assume these 'allies' have been living in a parallel universe for the last 2 years.
@rebeccaballhaus
At NATO dinner tonight, allies told Trump that talks w/Putin could be useful but urged him to stress the importance of international rules-based order. Trump offered no detail on his plans or expectations for the Putin meeting.
mobile.twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/101718086512481894

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/07/11/politics/nato-funding-explainer/index.html

seeshell
@Tentoads4truth
Given all the data companies (CA, fb, DT, Koch i360, Palantir etc.)used to manipulate 2016 voters/election, Kennedy’s other son Gregory’s connection to Trump’s Silicon Valley advisor Peter Thiel, owner of Palantir should be of equal alarm. 👉 link: twitter.com/tentoads4truth/status/973007063201673216?s=21 twitter.com/tentoads4truth…
mobile.twitter.com/Tentoads4truth/status/1013277745583816704

Dan Diamond
@ddiamond
Alex Azar claims his agency’s care of migrant children is "one of the great acts of American generosity and charity."

His critics say he’s spouting “gibberish.”
mobile.twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1017073681212854273

Charlie Warzel
@cwarzel
You're going to want to read @annehelen's massive story — 3 months in the making — on the man and the propaganda machine behind Trump's most recent pardon.
mobile.twitter.com/cwarzel/status/1017200979198898176

Incompetence, deliberate, deliberate incompetence?
'A Reporter Who Had Her Records Seized Wasn’t On A List Of Subpoenaed Journalists The Justice Department Sent To A Senator.
DOJ sent Sen. Ron Wyden a letter in March responding to his request for information on journalists who were subpoenaed over the past five years and only listed two instances.'
www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/zoetillman/a-reporter-who-had-her-records-seized-wasnt-on-a-list-of?utm_term=.gvbXM0bZJa&__twitter_impression=true

(My bolding):
Publishers Weekly
@PublishersWkly
Harper has acquired North American rights to 'Battlegrounds,' a new book by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. The book is scheduled for publication in 2020.
mobile.twitter.com/PublishersWkly/status/1017138074764169217

Gaetz and Dobbs' deep state wankfest:
Josh Marshall
@joshtpm
GOP Rep Says Purported Abuse Victims Tied to Deep State:

"They are people who have loose affiliation with a deep state out to get Jim Jordan and this is the way they are manifesting their hatred for a man who is doing everything to fight for the regular folks in this country."

mobile.twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1017223507485347840

Gaetz - he really is as dumb as he looks:
www.gq.com/story/matt-gaetz-trumpiest-congressman-in-washington

@Taniel
Important news in Alabama: Gov. Ivey is ending the practice of allowing county sheriffs to personally pocket (!) funds allocated to provide food in jails. Individual sheriffs have been pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars. (link: mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/us/alabama-jail-food-money.html) mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/us/…
mobile.twitter.com/Taniel/status/1017140071156379649

Just lightening the mood.

T.'s statement - Apparently, Stoltenberg is El Presidente's new best friend, everything is rosy, all the NATO allies think he is a wunderkind and we are all going to be doubling our contributions to NATO.

Press conference, same old worthless tosh, lies and boasts from this ignorant oaf.

Thanks for trying, Bolleaux.

No no, tell us what you really think, Scotland.

Diplomacy Wild West Style.

this is the sort of negotiation that the Brexiteers want

twitter.com/AP/status/1017369130536751104

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on the NATO summit in Brussels (all times local):

1:20 p.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron has denied President Donald Trump’s claim that NATO allies have agreed to boost defense spending beyond 2 percent of gross domestic product.

Macron said: There is a communique that was published yesterday. It’s very detailed.”

He added: “It confirms the goal of 2 percent by 2024. That’s all.”

The summit statement affirms a commitment made in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea that NATO allies would halt defense spending cuts, start spending more as their economies grow, with the aim of moving toward 2 percent of GDP within a decade.

If European NATO countries do increase their defense spending to ensure their own interests, will they even need or want to be in it with the US?

I wouldn't put it quite that way to Trump, but I'd be making contingency plans.

Still, it doesn't look to me like 2 or 4 or whatever % is something to be discussed with him.
He'd want either NATO countries to bow to worship the US, or to dismantle the whole thing, as per his puppet master. That's my feeling.

If he did threaten to withdraw from NATO, the other leaders should have told him not to let the door slam on his fat arse as he leaves. No more namby pambying around his toxic bottomless ego.

I'm making a wild guess that El Presidente's ridiculous performance this morning was an attempt at posturing pre the Putin meeting, just as he flounced from Toronto before his NoKo 'summit'. He really underestimates these authoritarian heads of state, they know exactly what he is.

Philip Rucker
Philip Rucker
@PhilipRucker
At NATO dinner last night, Trump bragged about Kim Jong Un summit and said he called golfer Jack Nicklaus to say, "They have 1,000 cameras at the Oscars and we had 6,000 cameras in Singapore. The buzz was fantastic,” an attendee tells WaPo.
@rebeccaballhaus
Trump arrived 30 minutes late to today’s NATO summit, missed his scheduled meetings with at least two world leaders, prompted the secretary general to call an emergency session, held an impromptu 35-minute news conference, and is now leaving for the airport go fly to London.
mobile.twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/1017364310664806401

Sorry, posted too soon, here is the Rucker link:

mobile.twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1017332722304475136

'Trump Reaffirms NATO Ties, and Dismisses Concerns About Russia'

'Hailing himself, again, as a stable genius,” he took “total credit” for persuading his allies to increase military spending beyond established markers — a claim that was nearly immediately undercut by at least one European leader. Mr. Trump spoke for more than a half-hour while flanked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John R. Bolton, his national security advisor.

“I told people I’d be very unhappy if they didn’t up their commitments very substantially,” said Mr. Trump, who has not held a news conference in the United States in more than a year. NATO officials had no immediate comment.'

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/world/europe/trump-nato-russia.html#click=t.co/ELjXV3eMCd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/world/europe/trump-nato-russia.html#click=t.co/ELjXV3eMCd

He kept saying how much the UK and Scotland love him, in his press rant this a.m., Perking. Guess he's just about to find out just about how much. The Scots know how to show their ' love' even better than we south of the border do, and we are pretty good at it

Stop playing his game
@PhilipRucker
Stolteberg at #NATO: “All allies have heard President Trump’s message loud and clear. We understand that this American president is very serious about defense spending and this is having a clear impact."

mobile.twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1017387468553940993

Know a man by the company he keeps:
@anniekarni
Nigel Farage, Louis Aliot (BF of Marine Le Pen) + more met w/Bannon in his makeshift war room today, where he has set up shop to “contextualize Trump” for Euro audience. And for Hannity's audience -- Hannity + Bannon are broadcasting from London at 2 a.m.
mobile.twitter.com/anniekarni/status/1017189937802817538
www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/07/11/bannon-london-trump-populists-714067?__twitter_impression=true

Wow, scary. Putin must be quaking in his boots:
@kaitlancollins
President Trump said he will ask Putin about Syria and meddling in the U.S. election. “He may deny it. All I can do is say ‘Did you?’ and ‘Don’t do it again.’”
mobile.twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1017356626645270529

Watching his arrival. I'm kind of hoping they pull the steps away just as he tries to step off the plane.

darn it.

I'm kind of hoping they pull the steps away just as he tries to step off the plane.

That was the only reason I watched it too.

I need one of these.

Man Controlled By Russia Says Germany Is Controlled By Russia

Quick, quick, America!!! Hurry up, whilst he's gone!!!! "Build that wall! Build that wall!".

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

dworkinreport.com/2018/07/12/devin-nunes-just-got-nailed-with-a-complaint-for-his-winerys-high-seas-underage-sex-party-scandal/

Across

Rebecca Ballhaus
‏
Verified account

@rebeccaballhaus

'Trump arrived 30 minutes late to today’s NATO summit, missed his scheduled meetings with at least two world leaders, prompted the secretary general to call an emergency session, held an impromptu 35-minute news conference, and is now leaving for the airport go fly to London.'