Donald Trump didn’t waste any time in his efforts to alienate U.S. allies at the NATO summit, accusing Germany of being “captive” to Russia.
“Germany as far as I am concerned is captive to Russia, because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia…Germany is totally controlled by Russia, because they will getting between 60 and 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline, and you tell me if that is appropriate, because I think it’s not, and I think it’s very bad thing for NATO, and I don’t think it should have happened, and I think we have to talk to Germany about it.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1016956445307400193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1016956445307400193&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F
Think Progress notes: “Ironically, Trump was doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding while accusing Germany of being beholden to Russia, as fraying the NATO alliance has been one of Putin’s longtime goals.”
Merkel responded: “I wanted to say that, because of current events, I have witnessed this myself, that a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union. And I am very happy that we are today unified in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan reacted: “I subscribe to the view that we should not be criticizing our president while he’s overseas. NATO is indispensable. It is as important today as it ever has been.”
Trump later met with Merkel and said that he and the German chancellor have a “very, very good relationship.”
"We have a tremendous relationship with Germany," President Trump says in meeting with Chancellor Merkel after calling Germany "a captive of Russia" earlier Wednesday. https://t.co/MawOketiMw pic.twitter.com/y2L59ZzcSJ
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 11, 2018
