Part of Heather Cox Richardson from yesterday:
Instead of focusing on the looming economic crisis, Trump upset members of both parties today when he announced that he would be withdrawing 12,000 troops from Germany. This will remove the troops from a European hub with a sophisticated transportation system that enables them to move quickly, thus countering Russian aggression. Trump claims the removal is retaliation because he says Germany is not paying enough into NATO, but the removal will waste billions of dollars spent recently on upgrading US military installations, and will further weaken NATO, which is a key goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Both the top Democrat and the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee criticized the plan, and almost two dozen Republican members of the committee sent an open letter to the president warning that the step will “significantly damage U.S. national security as well as strengthen the position of Russia to our detriment.” They warned that “signs of a weakened U.S. commitment to NATO will encourage further Russian aggression and opportunism.” They urged him to reject the idea.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who commanded the US Army in Europe, said he was “sickened by this decision and explanation. It is not tied to any strategic advantage and in fact is counterproductive to showing strength in Europe.” Admiral Jim Stravidis, the former top military commander in Europe and NATO for the US Navy, said “abruptly pulling 12,500 troops out of Germany (to put half of them in countries who spend LESS on defense) doesn't make sense financially, hurts NATO solidarity overall, and is a gift to Putin.”
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), a former Republican presidential nominee agreed: “The plan outlined by the Administration today to remove thousands of U.S. troops from Germany is a grave error. It is a slap in the face at a friend and ally… and it is a gift to Russia coming at a time when we just have learned of its support for the Taliban and reports of bounties on killing American troops.” Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "champagne must be flowing freely this evening at the Kremlin."
Trump has spoken at least eight times with Putin since news from U.S. intelligence broke the story that Moscow offered bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to kill U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan. Trump and Putin spoke most recently on Friday; Trump told reporters they did not discuss the Russian bounty scandal. Indeed, the pattern of Trump’s favoritism to Russia is so marked that CNN today ran a story listing “37 times Trump was soft on Russia.”
And there is now news of another Russian attack on the U.S.: yesterday U.S. officials said that two people from Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, are behind an effort to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
www.cnn.com
www.cnn.com
www.theverge.com
