Pentagon Conducted ‘Damage Control’ Following Trump Threats To Pull Out Of NATO

US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, near Ellesborough, northwest of London on July 13, 2018 on the second day of Tr... US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, near Ellesborough, northwest of London on July 13, 2018 on the second day of Trump's UK visit. - US President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary attack on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy, plunging the transatlantic "special relationship" to a new low as they prepared to meet Friday on the second day of his tumultuous trip to Britain. (Photo by Jack Taylor / POOL / Getty Images) (Photo credit should read JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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When President Donald Trump left the NATO summit on the heels of threats to pull out of the alliance, the Pentagon made calls to defense officials in Europe to offer reassurances that the U.S. would not abandon their defense posts in the region, NBC News reported Friday.

Multiple current and former diplomatic and military officials who spoke with NBC characterized the calls as “damage control” and a reinforcement of “alliance commitments.”

In a press conference on Thursday, Trump wouldn’t answer questions about his threats to pull out of the alliance over allies’ defense contributions, but said that withdrawing the U.S. would be “unnecessary” because “people have stepped up today like they’ve never stepped up before.”

While Trump boasted that NATO leaders had committed to contributing a bigger percentage of their nations’ gross domestic product, some allies have combated those claims. French President Emmanuel Macron said nothing had changed, and that each country remained committed to contributing at least 2 percent to defense by 2024, an agreement made in 2014.

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  1. What about the “damage control” of having the Dotard and the GOP running rampant in this country?

    That’s more of a threat than anything…

  2. The good thing, such as it is, is that the President of the United States has so astonishingly little credibility that I doubt these phone calls were made to skeptical listeners. We know he’s a lying bullshitter, they know he’s a lying bullshitter, every intelligent and informed person on the planet knows he’s a lying bullshitter.

    If he didn’t lie so profusely, such out-of-the-blue pronouncements would probably be even more damaging.

    Yay?

  3. I have been looking at recent pictures of Donald Trump. He is 72 years old and does nothing to take care of himself. He is looking puffier and puffier as each day goes by. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t have a physical breakdown at some point on this trip or shortly after his return to the US.

    We need to prepare for President Pence. Hug.

  4. In a press conference on Thursday, Trump wouldn’t answer questions about his threats to pull out of the alliance over allies’ defense contributions, but said that withdrawing the U.S. would be “unnecessary” because “people have stepped up today like they’ve never stepped up before.”

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