Right about that. Earlier this morning the president of the United States publicly hounded natos secretarygeneral, repeatedly disparaged germany and wondered aloud why america should be responsible for protecting europe against russia. Vladimir putin wants donald trump to break from American Allies. A few hours ago, that is exactly what he got. Wow. Welcome to morning joe. It is wednesday, july 11th. With us, msnbc contributor mike ba ba ba barniccal. And David Ignatius, nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of kasie d. C. On msnbc, kasie hunt and former u. S. Ambassador to nato and former state Department Spokesman nicholas burns, professor of diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy school of government. Great group to start with this morning, and, wow, what a start to the trip. What a start to the trip. And lets just play the clip. Heres donald trump actually doing exactly what Vladimir Putin would want him to do. Good morning. In many countries, they owe us a tremendous amount of money from many years back where theyre delinquent, as far as im concerned, because the United States has had to pay for them. If you go back 10 or 20 years add it all up. Its massive amounts of money that the United States has paid, and stepped up like nobody. This is gone on for decades, by the way. For many president s. But no other president brought it up like i bring it up. The good news is that allies have started to give more to defense. After years, theyve started to
add billions to this and defense spending, more in a generation. Why was that, last year . Also because of your leadership. Because of your carried message. They wont write that. I think its very sad when germany make as massive oil and gas deal with russia. Where youre supposed to be guarding against russia and germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to russia. So were protecting germany. Were protecting france. Were protecting all of these countries, and then numerous of the countries go out and make a Pipeline Deal with russia, where theyre paying billions of dollars in to the coffers of russia. So were supposed to protect you against russia, but theyre paying billions of dollars to russia, and i think thats very inappropriate, and the former chancellor of germany is the head of the Pipeline Company thats supplying the gas. Ultimately, germany will have almost 70 of their country controlled by russia with natural gas. So you tell me. Is that i mean, ive been compl about this from the time i got in. It should have never been allowed to have happened, but germany is totally controlled by russia. I think its something that nato has to look at. I think its very inappropriate. You and i agreed that its inappropriate. And the 29 nations, there are sometimes differences, and different views and also some disagreements, and the gas and pipeline from russia to germany is the issue where allies disagree, but the strength is that despite the differences we have always been able to unite around to protect and defend each other, because we understand we are stronger together than apart. The two world wars under cold war and we are stronger together than apart. How can you be together when
you know that. So this was supposed to be, just a photo op. The president wanted to make sure that he sent the message to Vladimir Putin while appearing to question Energy Shipments to russia, that he was actually doing everything he could to disrupt the nato summit from the start. And to also undermine Americas Alliance with nato. You could see, and mika pointed it out, mike pompeo looking down. As the president continued to badger and attack his hosts there. And in is so there is so many so many places to start. Ronald reagan, during Ronald Reagan during a decade where he did more to bring down the soviet union than anybody would have ever expected continued to trade with the soviet union. Donald trump is just, once
again, ignorant of history. Ignorant of diplomacy and of the very things that have gotten us to a position where we have a 19 trillion economy and by far the most powerful military and economic engine in the world. On the planet. David ignatius, if you listen to donald trump ramble on and on about what a bad partner nato was, and what a bad partner the eu was, you would, might be fooled in middle america, if you had pictures of donald trump on your wall. You might be fooled into believing that europe does absolutely nothing when it comes to defense. And, of course, after us not wanting germany to rearm for quite some time, we now have a situation where the European Union spends more money on Military Defense than does
russia. They are an extraordinarily important, strategic ally of the United States of america against Vladimir Putin and his ambitions after hes invaded two countries in one decade. You would have no idea watching the president harang the nato secretarygeneral that today at this very minute there are nato forces fighting with the United States in afghanistan in a fight that we requested their help in, that they remain part of the coalition thats seeking to defeat isis. Our terrorist ally. You would have no idea that that harang was directed at the people on whom we most depend for military support. That footage that you showed at the beginning of the show out to be nut a time capsule, because if people ask some day, how is it that the Nato Alliance, which
was the centerpiece of American Defense strategy for 70 years, began to unravel. You just look at an american president who arrives and the first thing he does a pick a fight with the very secretarygeneral, which, as you said, joe, the american support team, Secretary Of State pompeo and our ambassador to nato, Kay Bailey Hutchinson looking on with what seemed to me a kind of silent horror. Yep. At what was happening. What an extraordinary way to begin a summit with your friends and allies. Well hard to imagine. Its hard to imagine. It would be if churchill and fdr got together, jon meacham, during world war ii, and fdr was Badgering Churchill for not spending the exact amount of money on outlays in 1944 and
1945 as the United States. The fact is, that along with russia, Great Britain was our closest ally, and here, again, we europe, again, for those in my family and my friends who support donald trump, for those who have ears to hear, hear. Europe spends more money on National Defense, on the defense of the eu than does russia. Europe spends as much money on the defense of that continent as does china. They are a strong bulwark against russian aggression, and with donald trump going in and hypocritically attacking them, germany, for trading with russia, when all he has done for the past two years is talk about the need to build closer relationships with russia is
is just so, such a transparent im sure he thinks hes being clever, but its a transparent way to carry out Vladimir Putins deepest wish. Which is, to undermine our alliance with nato. Undercut a military Strategic Alliance that is like a dagger in the heart of putins expansionist dreams. Its its diabolical in that it almost manages to create as much chaos as possible. Not really creative chaos, but create chaos, because, if you listen to that, you know, basically we have a president who sounds like the guy at the end of the bar who has a bee in his bonnet and on about his third or fourth beer. Norm. Yeah, norm is president. Thats kind to norm. Yeah. Hes laying this out in a way that his base, many people in his base, will repeat, because hes saying it. A. , like the idea he was sitting there talking to this guy with a funny accent. Theyre going to love that. He was telling him what all, and yet when you pull back and think about what he was talking about, the entire point of the modern era, as david was saying, as opposed to, really, the 20s, which led to the 30s, was, we engage. Right. And you engage by, with a free flow of people and ideas and goods as much as possible, and what this administration has done is pretty much, its against the free flow of people and ideas, unless they have them, and its against the free flow of so, not norm. More like newman. Mike barnicle, go ahead. And sitting there watching this extraordinary clip we witnessed, the public
humiliation of the nato secretarygeneral by the president of the United States, it occurs to me and all of us on the set, how does it occur to you, this was the president of the United States speaking on a global stage intent only on talking about himself and what he felt rather than the common goals that nato has held for 70 years. Well, mike, thats right, and frankly, its just infuriating to watch this happen. You cannot imagine any american president all the way back 75 years deciding to become the critic and chief of nato. I mean, its orwellian. Hes making our friends out to be our enemies and treating our enemies like putin as our friends. And hes misrepresenting the facts. There have been four straight years of budget increases by every nato ally. The great majority of them will be at this magical 2 of Gross Domestic Product level by 2024. All of our ability to project
power in the world, in The Middle East and afghanistan comes out of the air bases, ramstein, insulak, aviano, the naval bases in italy and spain that the europeans pay us for. 2. 5 billion a year to keep our forces there. It would cost us more money to bring the troops home than to keep them in europe. So what is the point of this . Its all about politics, and the president s base. The not about the power of the United States. This Incredible Alliance that weve built, every president from truman, its infuriating to see this happen. Its diplomatic malpractice. Exactly what it is. Bring in nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. Live in brussels, belgium. Kristen what can you tell us . Reporter well, mika, were already starting to get reaction to that extraordinary exchange that you all are talking about. Germans Defense Minister essentially dismissing President Trumps claim that it is a captainistic to russia saying, i
think we can cope with it, meaning the criticism. Also defending that deal that President Trump was lashing out against saying, if we look at the gas pipeline, germany is an independent where Energy Supply is concerned we diversify, but the main overarching topic is the summit. We want the summit that sends out the message of unity. Of course, President Trump sending out the exact opposite message. Now, the secretarygeneral of nato also asked about the president s comments this morning, that extraordinary breakfast that he had with the president , and he said, look, there are going to be disagreements. Thats a part of the deal at these international summits. Mika, the extraordinary nature of what happened at that breakfast cannot be overstated. These summits are all about tone, all about the optics and on both of those fronts President Trump was confrontational, really adding to the tensions here and the concerns that the United States wont be counted on as a part of this alliance, mika. And youve been covering these for a long time. How does this compare . Reporter well, you think about the last summit, mika and President Trump does not adhere to protocols. The moment he pushed the Prime Minister of montenegro, a group photo and he wanted to get a better position for the photo. So its not unusual for him to break with the norms. This is something we deal with every day at the white house. But in the broader context of these summits. Again, its almost unprecedented you would have a public dispute spill out into the public view, and the timing of it is critical. It comes days before hes set to meet with russias president Vladimir Putin. You already have nato allies very concerned that hes not going to be tough enough in that meeting with putin nap he. That hes not going to raise the issue of Election Meddling or invading crimea. A break with international law. Concerns the International Community has here. Kristen welker, hard to believe he Wasnt Performing for Vladimir Putin given how kind of overt that was. Meanwhile the Senate Overwhelmingly pass add nonbinding motion reaffirms the commitment to the Nato Alliance. 972 vote came hours after the president landed in belgium. The measure was authored by Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services committee jack reed. The United States participates in nato, because we believe the Transatlantic Partnership is in the u. S. National security interest and not because other countries are paying us for protection. The motion reaffirms the u. S. Commitment to nato as a community of shares values including liberty, human rights, democracy and the rule of law. In addition, it calls for the u. S. To pursue and integrated approach to strengthen European Defense as part of a longterm strategy that uses all elements of u. S. National power to deter and if necessary defeat russian
aggression. It also reiterates u. S. Support for the rulesbased International Order and expending and enhancing alliances and partnerships. Senators rand paul and mike lee were the only two to vote against the motion. Ah, yeah. Wow. Okay. Kasie hunt, that is the United States senate sending a strong message, as strong a message as possible to our nato allies as well as to Vladimir Putin. Talking about russian aggression in that language, and also, you know, some of the republican senators that went over and were criticized for going over to russia actually, if you look at what was said in those meetings, there was confrontation about the russians interfering, meddling in our 2016 election. It seems the senate, at least, and some republicans in the senate, at least, is except for mike lee and rand paul, think its a good idea to stand
shouldertoshoulder with our european allies and speak out against russian aggression. Reporter joe, this reads to me like an attempt by the u. S. Senate, republicans and democrats alike, to send a message to our nato allies that says, please, try not to worry so much. We promise were going to keep the lights on for you. And that when we are, we have moved past this era, this is still something important to us. I think there were so Many Republican whose Didnt Want Trump to get elected in the first place. They thought there would be a lot of problems and issues. I dont think any of them ever dreamed that it would be a serious question to ask, Mitch Mcconnell got the question yesterday. Do you think this president will pull us out of nato . The house that we built. This is the western world that the United States of america built after the cold war, and its been the bedrock for, you know, all of our Foreign Policy, but particularly on the republican side. Reagan and the end of the cord war. The fact the vote happened at all, jack reed, a democrat. Gave it to him, his counterpart obviously on the Armed Services committee, john mccain not here in washington, still battling brain cancer, but that is just an incredible signal and it comes from the top down. Jon meacham, yes, it was the house that we built, nato. Heres theresa may arriving. She has several things on her mind. One, of course, is the frail nature of her coalition in parliament with her Shaggy HairedForeign Minister resigning a few days ago. Also, of course, though, more importantly in our mind than meeting with donald trump is what every man, woman and child in england is thinking about today, and that is the 2 00 clash against croatia to get to the finals of the world cup, and if you think that i am being glib, you do not understand just what todays match means. And also, of course, belgium in a state of warning today after their loss to france yesterday. But kasie hunt talked about nato being the house that we built. And, again, the ignorance of donald trump and the ignorance of those who believe that hes somehow showing those europeans. Hmm. Uhhuh. Showing the