Trump Pulls Out

When two of the world’s biggest losers get together to make a plan, you can be sure it will backfire on one and be of no benefit to the other.

Trump had a 90-minute call with Putin and has now announced a pull-out of some US troops from Europe.

We could ask Melania what that pull-out feels like; she’s European…

…and I only mean that she seems to pull her hand out of his whenever they are together.

You were thinking of something else, eh?

Trump was miffed that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iranian leadership, and he criticized the U.S. strategy.

US (Trump) strategy has led to the crippling of almost all US bases in the Middle East, due to Iranian drone bombardment.

A central question that Trump never addressed before announcing his troop pull-out from Germany, is whether it is a smart move to weaken the European bases right after the US has lost practically all of the Middle East ones.

Only a very stable genius could come up with an idea like that.

Somehow, Trump and Putin think that pulling American troops from Germany is a punishment for Germany. Germany is now actively increasing its military, aiming to boost the Bundeswehr to 260,000 soldiers by 2035, and 460,000 by 2039 – more than double its current force. Germany is also on track to spend over 3.5% of its GDP on defense by 2029, exceeding NATO’s 2% benchmark.

Putin has lost so many soldiers in Ukraine that the Russian army is now losing ground. His proud new tanks have been replaced by hold-overs from WW2, and if he wanted to invade Germany he would have to send the men to the front in Ubers.

The last time America punished Germany, it put troops Into Germany. Of course, that was in 1945 – Trump might not have studied that lesson.

The Trump withdrawal would delete 5,000 Americans, which would leave more than 30,000 U.S. troops in Germany — reversing a buildup that began under Biden following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Germany seems unfazed; its defence minister said the Pentagon decision was “foreseeable”. Germany will have the largest army in Europe…except for the Ukrainian army.

It might be a case of premature withdrawal. Trump first threatened this in 2018, and tried to pull 9,500 troops from Germany in 2020, citing inadequate German defense spending. He lost the presidential election to Biden before that happened, and Biden then cancelled the order.

Trump is also weighing troop reductions now in Italy and Spain. They have insulted him as well.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called Trump’s conflicts in Iran and Gaza “reckless,” and accused him of “setting the world on fire”. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV as “unacceptable,” to which Trump wittingly replied “She is the one who is unacceptable.” So there.

And none of them have joined Trump’s “Board Of Peace”

In their defence, we must recall that Trump launched the Iran war without notifying his European allies. Then he was surprised that the allies refused to join a war they had not been consulted about.

Germany is not doing nothing. It has allowed the use of its air bases for US operations. It sent a minesweeper to the Strait of Hormuz to help re-open it once the shooting stops. It is just refusing to fight Trump’s war…and Trump can’t see that.

The logistics part of a pull-out from Germany would be a nightmare. Germany is a permanent duty station. If just 50% of the 5,000 soldiers have two dependents, then some 15,000 people (10,000 + 5,000 soldiers) would need to be moved at once. That means finding a new home base, then flooding it with all these arrivals.

And those soldiers guard 24 American nuclear warheads. They would have to go back to America, because no other NATO ally would take them on consignment. The shipment process goes a step beyond FedEx.

And the Americans have just had to rapidly evacuate Bahrain, courtesy of Trump’s Iran war. Most those refugees are still in Germany.

Pulling out of one base is likely to trigger a pull-out from all Euro-bases.

It is a fuse that will lead to America’s exit from NATO.

If Trump feels really grouchy and decides to pull out of NATO completely, a minor glitch is ahead for him: The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, enacted on 22 December 2023, prohibits the President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without approval of a two-thirds Senate majority or an act of Congress.

That measure was co-authored by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Kaine (D-VA).

Marco Rubio.

The current Secretary of State.

He would have some explaining to do to back out of the NATO disruption measure.

Of course, during the 2016 Republican primary, Rubio called Trump a “con artist,” “dangerous,” and “offensive,” while mocking his hand size and spray tan. Rubio accused Trump of exploiting voter anger, having a history of scamming workers, and being a “lunatic” trying to get control of nuclear weapons.

But hey – it’s all good between friends, right?

No doubt Rubio has a plan for what they will do If the USA left Germany and had to close Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and Ramstein Air Base first. Will they transport soldiers - wounded for example in the Middle East - directly the long route to the USA for medical help or would they prefer to choose the closer option in Germany? Oh, and Auf Wiedersehen (goodbye) EUCOM and AFRICOM, both based in Europe. United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of eleven Unified Combatant Commands of the U.S. military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. It oversees U.S. military forces in 51 countries across 21 million square miles, including Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) is responsible for US operations in 53 African countries; it too is based in Germany.

If Trump pulls those out with the rest of the American presence, he is stuck with trying to figure out where to put the two HQs that cover 104 countries. Where is he going to put them? With his dictator buddy Netanyahu in Israel? The leaders of those countries would rather gargle with razor blades than go to Israel.

Then there is the small strategic consideration that the American troops are not in Germany, Spain, and Italy, to protect those countries, worthy as that cause might be. They are there to further America’s interests. Trump has it backwards (again) if he thinks removing America’s interests from those countries is a punishment to them.

“The greatest threat to the transatlantic community is not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned.

Your average European could not care less - they are sick of the drama created by Trump. They would say: retreat to your backwater nation. Trump’s threats are meaningless and US influence is seen for what it is: leverage through threat and not friendship between nations.

What does your average American think of all this? It’s a puzzle to many Europeans:

“Absolutely absurd…More characteristic of a 5-year-old” says Senator Blumenthal, who also noted that the only time NATO has invoked Article 5 was when the US was attacked in 9/11.

Senior Republican leaders are very concerned.

Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers, chairs of the Senate and House armed services committees respectively, said that rather than being withdrawn, those troops should be moved further east. Towards Russia. They say that Trump s undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal.

The senior Democrat on the House armed services committee, Adam Smith, said the decision was “not grounded in any coherent US national security policy, strategy, or even analysis” but based on “the hurt feelings of a president who is seeking political vengeance”.

An essay in the New York Times called Trump’s decision “rash”, and forecast that America would come to regret it.

Americans are in the throes of regretting Trump completely. His polls have gone down again, to 34% favorable. But still, 26% of Americans think he is a positive roll model.

What kind of person would think that, you ask.

A person who believes Trump is a “decisive” leader, or who feels that they have been left behind. I might add that the two can mingle: people who think Trump is decisive are likely to be left behind.

As is anyone who thinks, like Trump, that you can bomb your way to victory. That has never happened.

Someone commented that Trump’s brain should be donated to science.

Sooner rather than later.

What would the US do without NATO…fund healthcare? What will those 170,000 military people in some 800 bases around the world be able to contribute to their country if they came back home?

Advice from one online observer: “Start to focus on your own problems in your own country…And there a lot of those…”

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In the next two weeks we will look at The Price of Mercy – Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America.

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