Earlier this morning President Trump stunned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the atomic sledgehammer of truth.  Stoltenberg never recovered.  The issue was/is NATO asking the U.S. for defense against Russia while the NATO member nations, driven by the construct of Germany, finance Russia through energy purchases.
Then comes the Angela Merkel bi-lateral meeting.

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[Transcript 3:45 P.M. CEST] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re having a great meeting. We’re discussing military expenditure. We’re talking about trade. We have a very, very good relationship with the Chancellor. We have a tremendous relationship with Germany. They’ve made tremendous — you’ve had tremendous success and I congratulate you. Tremendous success. And I believe that our trade will increase and lots of other things will increase. But we’ll see what happens over the next period of a few months.
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Oh snap.  Brilliant, simply brilliant.  President Trump keeps the cameras rolling during a breakfast with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; and absolutely crushes the NATO position on needing money to defend against Russia when NATO -specifically Germany- is funding Russian expansion financially through energy development, and simultaneously asking the U.S. for money to defend against Russia.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks like he is half going to break out laughing, and half saying to himself: oh, it’s on..

Stoltenberg: […] I think that two World Wars and the Cold War taught us that we are stronger together than apart.
Trump: But how can you be together when a country is getting its energy from the person you want protection against or from the group that you want protection?
Stoltenberg: Because we understand that when we stand together, also in dealing with Russia, we are stronger. I think what we have seen is that —
Trump: No, you’re just making Russia richer. You’re not dealing with Russia. You’re making Russia richer.

This is a MUST WATCH:

Transcript – AT BILATERAL BREAKFAST – Chief of Mission Residence – Brussels, Belgium – 9:13 A.M. CEST – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good morning, everybody. Good morning to the media — the legitimate media and the fake-news media. Good morning to them. A lot of good people here. Surprising.
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EU Parliament member Daniel Hannan discusses the background of Prime Minister May’s inept approach toward exiting the EU; her future, and the future of the Brexit process, and President Trump calling out NATO allies.

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Methinks this NATO summit will be very interesting…
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Stunningly confrontational remarks today from EU President Donald Tusk as U.S. President Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in Brussels for a NATO summit.
After destroying nationalistic Brexit plans for the U.K. to exit the European Union, the insufferable arrogance of the EU surfaces with pontificating snark.
The EU might feel emboldened right now, but this approach will not end well; believe me.

Brussels – Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit here in Brussels, I would like to address President Trump directly, who for a long time now has been criticising Europe almost daily for, in his view, insufficient contributions to the common defence capabilities, and for living off the US.
Dear President Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe. Today Europeans spend on defence many times more than Russia, and as much as China. And I think you can have no doubt, Mr President, that this is an investment in common American and European defence and security. Which can’t be said with confidence about Russian or Chinese spending.
I would therefore have two remarks here. First of all, dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many. And, dear Europe, spend more on your defence, because everyone respects an ally that is well-prepared and equipped.

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President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at Melsbroek Air Base in Brussels, Belgium ahead of the NATO summit Wednesday and Thursday.  The First Family will be staying at the EU Chief of Mission residence.

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Earlier this morning, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart the White House to board Marine-1 for the first leg of their trip to Europe.  President Trump stops to answer brief questions from the White House Press Pool:

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[Transcript] Q (Inaudible) on Brexit?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s going to be an interesting time in the UK, and it’s certainly going to be an interesting time with NATO. NATO has not treated us fairly, but I think we’ll work something out. We pay far too much and they pay far too little. But we will work it out, and all countries will be happy. With the UK, that’s a situation that’s been going on for a long time.
So I have NATO, I have the UK, which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think? But the UK certainly has a — they have a lot of things going on.
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British officials are desperate to keep Nigel Farage and President Trump separate during the state visit next Thursday and Friday.  [::snicker::… you know what that means… nudge, nudge… wink, wink… say-no-more, say no more]  Mr. Nigel Farage discusses the current U.K. climate that awaits President Trump.

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President Trump heads to Europe on Tuesday for a series of meetings in several EU nations.  On Wednesday and Thursday (11th/12th) the NATO summit.  On Thursday and Friday (12th/13th) a U.K. Visit. Saturday and Sunday (14th/15th) a visit to Scotland; and Monday the 16th a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Finland.

The EU and U.S. media are one-upping themselves every few hours with apoplectic proclamations about horrible Trump and the high-minded need to save the angelic NATO mission of unbridled altruism; a liberally canonized Saint Merkel of Deutschland; as well as Londonistan’s Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Theresa May, from the horrors of a swaggering U.S. vulgarian…  Cue the audio visual:

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Seriously, after a while all of these faux-intellectuals begin to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher. “The louder they spoke of their honor, the faster we counted the spoons“…
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With McCain dying, and Corker and Flake retiring, the Decepticon side of the deep swamp is being purged.  President Trump’s direct America-First policies and pragmatic common sense has severed one head from Cerberus, the three headed hound protecting Hades, DC.
In the geopolitical realm President Trump is using the U.S. atomic sledgehammer to reset decades of insufferable economic policy constructed specifically to the financial benefit of ideological ‘allies’; who have elevated their financial standing on the backs of U.S. deficits.
With Decepticons weakened, and many in DC realizing President Trump isn’t going to stop swinging the battle axe until the last one is crushed, politicians like Lindsey Graham have begun talking more truthfully about issues.  Watch in this interview as Graham is questioned about North Korea, and he immediately -and somewhat surprisingly- accurately identifies the core issue…. it ain’t North Korea.

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White House national security adviser John Bolton appears on Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan to discuss North Korea and Russia.  Within the interview Bolton says the U.S. could dismantle North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs within a year if the North Koreans committed to scrapping their arsenal in accordance with the agreement reached in Singapore last month.

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