Ross Douthat continues to insist that Trump is just, in his rough and offensive way, giving tough love to our European allies. He does, however, believe that the message should be moderated to include less tough and more love; otherwise, the Europeans might actually take offense, to America’s detriment. Is he right?
That opinion is so 2018! Trump’s undiplomatic offensive is not an effort to identify unpleasant truths and deliver tough love; at best, he is trying to demonstrate to the Euros that they are mere vassals instead of allies, and at worst, he’s planning to feed some of them to Putin.
Here, as with most things Trumpian, the harshness and the cruelty aren’t an inadvertent shortcoming; they’re the point.