There comes a point in time where the absurdities with the Republican party get so rich that one really does ask oneself, how can anybody still vote for these people? The latest absurdity involves Donald Trump and the Republican Congress.
So Trump famously said on the campaign trail in South Carolina the other day that he would not defend a NATO country if it “didn’t pay” what it owed. But NATO doesn’t actually work that way. There is no central fund into which nations pay. As the historian Heather Cox Richardson explains:
In 2006, NATO members agreed to commit at least 2% of their gross domestic product to their own defense spending in order to make sure that NATO remained ready for combat. The economic crash of 2007–2008 meant a number of governments did not meet this commitment, and in 2014, allies pledged to do so. Although most still do not invest 2% of their GDP in their militaries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014 motivated countries to speed up that investment.
Heather Cox Richardson
It should also be noted that there are some disputes about what counts as “military spending.”
In any case, it is absolutely rich for Trump to complain about people not paying their bills, because Trump has famously stiffed more contractors than would fit into the Guiness Book of World Records.
As I’ve mentioned before, I personally know a contractor that Trump has stiffed — a company that builds out the interiors of luxury hotels, and also does all of the interior design work — and who were never paid for work they did on the Trump Tower. The Donald liked their work, but when they were offered a second job they requested payment up front, which Trump refused. So they never did the second job.
Now, Trump has this strange obsession with Russia, and clearly wants to be Vladimir Putin. And Republicans — who used to hate the Russkies — are once again falling in line.
After rejecting a combined bill including aid for Ukraine and Israel and more border security measures than they could ever hope to get from the bipartisan Senate — and rejecting it only because Trump wanted to keep immigration alive as a campaign issue — the Senate has now sent over a second aid bill to the House, one which has huge support from a large majority of American voters. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is vowing to reject this second bill because — you guessed it — it “doesn’t include border security measures.”
Are you fucking kidding me?
When a snake oil salesman mixes the snake oil right in front of you, doesn’t there come a time where even the most extreme MAGA Republican goes, “hey wait man, I think that may be snake oil.”
And how can you vote for Trump if you’re in the military? Trump has repeatedly called veterans who died in wars “suckers” and “losers.” The other day he tried to mock Nikki Haley because her husband is on a deployment, and not campaigning with her.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Again, how can you be a member of the military and vote for this guy? He mocks everything that you stand for.
