Germany has a difficult time with defense and its Nato involvement because of its collective guilt from World War II and the atrocities committed in its name by Hitler. They should.
The result of this has been an unsteady stance on defense — some would say a semi-pacificism since WWII — and their tepid participation in Nato — the defensive alliance that safeguards Europe from the aggression of Russia and Putin — a man cast on the Hitler model.
What does this have to do with Trump, Big Red Car?
Ahhh, dear reader, here it is.
During Trump 1.0, Trump had three main beefs with Germany:
1. The Germans were trading with Russia and had risked their economic and energy future on cheap oil and gas from Russia. They bought gas, LNG, crude oil, and coal from Russia, bloody addicted to it.
At a United Nations speech in September 2018, Trump warned the Germans about dependency on Russian energy and the inherent strategic danger. The German delegation laughed and smirked at Trump.
2. Germany was not meeting its agreed obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty to spend 2% of gross domestic product on defense. They were always laggards and the then German leader was obnoxious in her opposition.
3. Becasuse Germany and others were not meeting their commitments to Nato funding, the US was picking up a grossly disproportionate share of the cost of the defense of Europe. Trump viewed this as freeloading and believes Europe does not really need the US to defend itself.
So, then what happened, Big Red Car?
Several interesting developments, dear reader.
1. The Russians invaded their peaceful neighbor Ukraine and Nato went on high alert. Led by the United States, Nato supported the defense of Ukraine by economically sanctioning Russia and arming Ukraine.
2. One of the sanctions was to wean all of Europe, but Germany in particular, from the Russian energy teat. This was a very tough undertaking because of the sheer magnitude of the addiction. Today, Germany still buys energy from Russia though there is some underlying faux camouflage on it by buying unidentified LNG cargos through French ports.
Buying Russian energy fuels the Russian war machine and pays to kill Ukrainians.
3. Russia made extremely belligerent utterances as to the impact of support of Ukraine by Nato countries. P)utin threatened to nuke England, France, and Germany. That has to be a wake up call. New Russian nuke threats today.
4. Trump 2.0 came along and Trump threatened to end the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Russia and threatened to withdraw from Nato — something I think the US should do. This was another wakeup call to Europe.
So, what happened then, Big Red Car?
Ahhh, In 2025 after the election of Trump 2.0, Germany made a crisp, military about face and enacted several programs to take their rightful role in Nato.
1. In 2024, Germany met its full Nato 2% defense spending requirement. Huge move.
2. Germany just recently removed all caps to defense spending in its internal budget disciplines — Krauts love discipline — and has committed a massive amount of money to rebuilding its armed forces.
3. Germany has begun to embrace the idea of a Nato that would not have the United States as a backstop and both the Arsenal of Democracy and the Big Funder.
4. Germany has commited substantial funds to modernizing its weapon manufacturing industry. The Germans make very good weapons and ammo.
5. Germany is creating a new armored brigade, the 45th Armored Brigade (5,000 men and tanks), and is stationing it in Lithuania, the first foreign deployment of a Germany army unit since World War II.
So, why did this happen, Big Red Car?
Dear reader, it happened for only two reasons:
1. The Russian invasion of Ukraine showed Germany and all of Europe the stakes of continued Russian aggression.
2. Donald John Trump — the son-of-a-bitch was right about everything.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car, going skydiving this afternoon
The impact of Trump 2.0 is both obvious and subtle. The media does not report it to the American news consumer because they continue to have their thumb on the anti-Trump scale, but big things are happening.
Trump made this happen by marshalling good faith, common sense arguments that Germany finally embraced. They’re not laughing at Trump in Germany today.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.