If this is true, and I believe it is true, it is important.
If you support Trump you probably don’t believe this true. That it is “fake news!” Right?
So there are two questions: 1) Do you believe that Trump’s top national security officials were surprised he did not include the Article 5 language? Or Not? 2) Independent of your belief on the trueness of this, what narrative does this data support? Does it support the narrative of: 1) Fake News, 2) Trump is an idiot, 3) Trump is purposefully realigning our alliances.
Trump’s decision to dump the speech and instead dump on NATO shocked even his own team.
It was not until the next day, Thursday, May 25, when Trump started talking at an opening ceremony for NATO’s new Brussels headquarters, that the president’s national security team realized their boss had made a decision with major consequences—without consulting or even informing them in advance of the change.
Instead of the speech that had been carefully written, vetted, and approved in advance, Trump decided to deliver an insulting demand for payment even as a relic from the World Trade Center was being installed to remind the member states of the one time they had been called on to spill blood together—in defense of the United States.
Article 5 is the heart of NATO. It’s the section of NATO’s founding treaty where all the nations that participate in the alliance promise to come to the defense of any member under attack. Article 5 has been invoked exactly one time—by the United States following 9/11. In response […]