Donald Trump's 'cunning' revenge against Germany, Spain and Italy by punishing the USA

There are many people who claim that Donald Trump is a brilliant strategist whose decisions are based on moves that the rest of us cannot predict.

Donald Trump's contradictions in his criticism of NATO over Iran
The importance of taking care of your allies and the consequences of treating them with contempt

It's possible that in some cases this is true, I don't rule it out, but the belief that all of Trump's decisions are the result of a shrewd strategy is no longer tenable. This week we had another example of this with Trump's announcement that he is considering withdrawing part of the US military presence from Germany, Spain, and Italy as revenge against the governments of those countries for not supporting him in military operations against Iran.

In the case of Germany, the announcement has caused surprise at the Pentagon, where there were no plans to reduce the American military presence in that country. Republican Congressman Don Bacon, a retired U.S. Air Force general, has strongly criticized Trump's words, stating: "The continued attacks on NATO allies are counterproductive. The comments hurt Americans. I commanded the huge Ramstein AB in Germany. The two big airfields in Germany give us great access in three continents. We are shooting ourselves in our own feet."

In foreign policy, the current US president presents some curious contrasts. Trump doesn't hold back on all kinds of criticism and threats against his own allies, generating tensions that damage ties between NATO member countries and external trust in the United States, while at the same time showing himself to be very cautious and even friendly toward Vladimir Putin's dictatorship, which is not only an enemy of European democracies but also of the United States. Let's remember that recently Russia supplied intelligence to the Iranian dictatorship to kill US soldiers.

By now, Trump's military advisors will have warned him that the main loser from a reduction in the American military presence in Europe would be the United States, as this would cause it to lose influence in the region and diminish its ability to project military power beyond its borders. And the primary beneficiary would be Putin, who dreams of a Europe subservient to Moscow and without any US military presence—a presence that, until now, has been an obstacle for Russia, especially during the Soviet era, a dark past that Putin seems determined to drag back to his country.

Seeing Trump's deplorable attitude toward Ukraine, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he wants to do the Russian dictator a favor. He's already done him quite a few favors, clearly supporting Russia in its war of aggression against the Ukrainian people, all as a result of the lamentable success of pro-Russian propaganda by charlatans like Tucker Carlson among the American right wing and specifically among MAGA, the sector most aligned with Trump. But he'll have to explain this business of harming his own country to his fellow citizens, to whom he promised that America would be great again, and not that America would weaken its military presence in Europe to clear the way for the tyrant in Moscow, something that would have scandalized previous US presidents, starting with Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

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Photo: The White House.