Trump Has Delivered for Putin

There was a lot of Trump-related news over the weekend, as usual, but none so important as this: Following Donald Trump's meetings with NATO and G7 leaders in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the U.S. is no longer the reliable ally it once was.

Merkel on Sunday declared a new chapter in U.S.-European relations after contentious meetings with [Donald] Trump last week, saying that Europe "really must take our fate into our own hands."

It was the toughest review yet of Trump's trip to Europe, which inflamed tensions rather than healed them after the U.S. president sparred with the leaders of Washington's closest and oldest allies on trade, defense, and climate change.

Merkel, Europe's de facto leader, told a packed beer hall rally in Munich that the days when her continent could rely on others was "over to a certain extent. This is what I have experienced in the last few days."

...Merkel said that Europe's move toward self-reliance should be carried out "of course in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain and as good neighbors wherever that works."

Wherever that works. After Trump made it abundantly clear that it would not work with the U.S. as long as he is in office: "On Thursday, Trump had harsh words for German trade behind closed doors. Hours later, he blasted European leaders at NATO for failing to spend enough on defense, while holding back from offering an unconditional guarantee for European security. Then, at the Group of Seven summit of leaders of major world economies on Friday and Saturday, he refused to endorse the Paris agreement on combating climate change, punting a decision until this week."

And also just generally behaved like a jackass.

Following his belligerent comments on Germany and trade, which White House adviser Gary Cohn [Content Note: Video may autoplay] tried to walk back, Trump doubled down with a tweet this morning, which he quickly followed with a tweet defending Russia.

Fresh off his failed overseas trip, Trump starts the week by attacking our ally in Germany and defending our adversary in Russia. pic.twitter.com/EhdbtBQ61J

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 30, 2017

As I noted on Friday: "Since the end of WWII, Russia has had an explicit objective of busting up the U.S.-German alliance, because the combined strength of the U.S. and Germany, in both military might and democratic cultural influence, provided a check on the empiric aspirations of the Soviet Union, now Russia. Trump's subversion of the U.S-Germany relationship is providing a dangerous opening to Putin, who has already made abundantly clear his intent to rebuild Russia's reach with his annexation of Crimea and moves in Ukraine."

For seventy years, Russia's central foreign policy objective has been busting up the alliance between the United States and Germany—and Trump has done precisely that in 130 days in office.

For someone who keeps telling us he is no way compromised by Russia, it sure is curious that he's made their longest and biggest dream come true, to the detriment of the nation he leads and is supposed to protect.