Good luck walking into negotiations with foreign countries by being honest.
Real negotiations between countries happen behind closed doors. If Trump wants to play this game there, he's welcome to do that. We're not talking about that, we're talking about a rally in front of cameras being televised for the whole world to see. Sad as it is that I have to say this - these aren't the same thing.
It’s entire purpose literally built on trust
Wrong. NATo is not weakened by a country being brow beat into contributing 2% of their GDP into their national defense. Nor is there any reason to distrust the United States if you do what you are told to do, and comply.
To say NATO isn't built on trust really makes me question whether you have any idea what NATO is or how it works. There is no police force to enforce article 5. If one country gets attacked, the only thing that ensures every other country comes to their defense is the commitment every country has to the pact.
When you have someone like Trump making his discontent for NATO so publicly obvious, it really makes other countries hesitant on whether they should come to our defense should we be attacked, and it also makes other countries think twice about whether they should pursue their own nuclear programs. Last I checked, we still agreed that nuclear proliferation war not a good thing.
Moreover, the main purpose above all for NATO is it's power as a deterrent. Article 5 is irrelevant if no one would dare attack a NATO ally as that would ensure their demise. But when you have an idiot like Trump signaling to the world that he might not intervene should an ally be attacked, it emboldens countries like Russia to continue expanding their empire. And right now it's said that Putin is planning to attack a NATO ally in the future which I would argue becomes far more likely to the point of guaranteed if Trump gets elected.
This is literally the same criticisms Trump would get for praising Kim Jung Un, because people are literally too stupid to know that threats only get you so much compliance and threats are much better if accompanied by a way to allow the leader to save face to his people, especially in asian or strong man culturess.
It never ceases to amaze me how Trump supporters find a way to excuse everything he says. If it's absurd, he was joking. If it's threatening, he was bluffing. If it's racist, we're just not listening closely enough. To understand Trump we have to learn how to read between the lines they say. We take him seriously, not not literally. They say.
But when Trump gives an hour long speech at the Elipse on January 6th where in that entire speech he used the word peacefully once... All of a sudden we are full of TDS if we take his statements as anything other than 100% literal. When he tells Zelensky "I need you to do me a favor THOUGH", no he's just asking for a favor. We have to take him literally, remember?
Whatever you need it to be, that's what it is.
