NATO Leaders Are Experiencing Trump's Mental Instability Today-- And His Devotion To Vladimir Putin

Armchair psychologists have been analyzing Señor Trumpanzee for years but long before diagnoses like cognitive decline, Malignant Narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, dementia, sociopath, Finasteride Psychotic Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and psychosis, everyone who followed Trump for years noticed that he constantly projects. That's a psychological defense mechanism-- often hostile, in which individuals attribute characteristics they find unacceptable in themselves to another person. Often a mechanism of paranoia, Freud believed projection to be a defense mechanism often used as a way to avoid uncomfortable repressed feelings. Feelings that are projected may be controlling, jealous, angry, or sexual in nature-- most often occuring when individuals cannot accept their own impulses or feelings.

On Wednesday Señor T accused Germany of being "a captive of the Russians." An absolutely stunning and classic example of projectionism. Angela Merkel didn't diagnose Trump when she responded.

Angela Merkel pushed back against Donald Trump’s extraordinary tirade against Germany on the first day of the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday, denying her country was “totally controlled” by Russia and saying it made its own independent decisions and policies.

In less blunt language than the US president’s, the German chancellor made the point that she needed no lessons in dealing with authoritarian regimes, recalling she had been brought up in East Germany when it had been part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence.

Arriving at Nato headquarters only hours after Trump singled out Germany for criticism, Merkel said: “I have experienced myself how a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union. I am very happy that today we are united in freedom, the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of that we can say that we can make our independent policies and make independent decisions. That is very good, especially for people in eastern Germany.”

...At his first meeting of the summit, with the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, Trump described the relationship between Germany and Russia as “inappropriate.”

NATO officials had been nervously awaiting the first meeting as an indicator of how Trump-- who arrived in Brussels on Tuesday night-- would behave over the next two days. Within minutes they had their answer.

This summit is shaping up to be the most divisive in Nato’s 69-year history. Normally, NATO summits are mostly fixed in advance and proceed in an orderly fashion. Trump’s first words signalled this one was not going to be like that.

He complained that German politicians had been working for Russian energy companies after leaving politics and said this too was inappropriate. Germany was totally controlled by Russia, Trump said.

With Stoltenberg looking on uncomfortably throughout, the US president was unrelenting. “I think it is very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia,” Trump said. “We are supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions dollars a year to Russia.

“We are protecting Germany, we are protecting France, we are protecting all of these countries and then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they are paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. I think that is very inappropriate.”

He added: “It should never have been allowed to happen. Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they will be getting 60-70% of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline.

Yesterday, perhaps anticipating Trump's unhinged tirade, the Senate passed 97-2 an amendment to set legislative guardrails in support of NATO, expressing support for NATO, its mutual self-defense clause and calling on the Regime to rush its whole-of-government strategy to counter Russia’s meddling in the U.S. and other democracies.

In a Senate floor speech Tuesday, Reed callled America’s commitment to NATO “ironclad” and Trump’s meeting with Putin “ill-advised.”

“I join my colleagues this afternoon in support of the motion which sends an important message to our allies, our partners, and our adversaries that the United States is unwavering in its support of Europe free from the threat of external aggression and in support of the rules-based international order that has promoted international security for decades,” Reed said.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was expected Wednesday to debate a separate measure supporting NATO. One proposed amendment to it, from panel chairman Bob Corker (R-TN), would reaffirm support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and condemn “Russia’s illegal invasion and attempted annexation of Crimea.” A second proposed amendment from Sen. Robert Menendez, the panel’s ranking member, would reaffirm support for U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Trump’s wavering on NATO has led allies to question America’s trustworthiness, Menendez (D-NJ) said in a blistering floor speech.

“In the absence of U.S. presidential leadership, I want to make clear to our allies abroad, as well as our adversaries in the Kremlin, as to where members in the United States Senate stand,” said Menendez, adding that the chamber stands for the rule of law, an international order based on democratic values and with its allies.

“President Trump’s slap-dash approach to foreign policy, borne out of heated campaign rallies, instead of thoughtful Cabinet meetings, has real implications for our national security,” Menendez said. “Such reckless behavior by President Trump has weakened the United States on the global stage and created a more dangerous world for our citizens and our troops serving abroad.”

Menendez ripped Trump for saying his meeting with Putin would be the easiest of his four-country trip, as a sign Trump “would rather deal with an autocrat than negotiate with democratically elected leaders.”

“Let’s be clear: Meeting with a thug intent on undermining American democratic values should not be easy and it should not be chummy,” he said.

Menendez’s pursuit for a vote on Russia sanctions follows Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) saying-- after a trip to Russia last week-- the Senate may have gone too far with mandatory sanctions against a host of Russian entities, leaving Trump with too little negotiating room on other matters.

Johnson, chairs the Foreign Relations subcommittee for Europe, told the Washington Examiner, the sanctions, “don’t seem to be having a real horrible economic effect, not in Moscow anyway.”

...Outside of the Senate chamber, lawmakers expressed fears over both tone and substance of Trump’s talks at the NATO and Putin summits.

On the heels of leading a Republican delegation to Russia last week, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby cautioned Trump to be well-prepared, especially after the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un produced, “a lot of optics and not a lot of substance yet.”

“My advice to the president, if he wanted any, would be: Careful, you’re dealing with a tough man, a smart man, and he probably wants to get something and give nothing in return,” Shelby (R-AL) said of Putin.

CNN: "NATO allies wonder if the West can withstand the Trump presidency. Weakening NATO is Putin's top priority-- and was certainly the top quid pro quo for the Kremlin's assistance in stealing the 2016 election. There has never been an unpatriotic American president before. It's hard to fathom. It's got to be dealt with. A supine and enabling Congress is not going to deal with it, making the November midterms the most consequential election in any of our lifetimes. I hope all DWT readers are prepared, not just to vote, not just to work for candidates, not just to contribute to candidates, but to drag any friends or relatives who are too lazy to vote-- especially in midterms-- to the polls. This one really is just plain too important.