'I never thought I’d live to see this!'
Trump arrived in Brussels Wednesday for the start of the NATO summit and promptly launched a series of attacks against America's closest allies, leaving diplomats and lawmakers dumbfounded.
They weren't the only ones watching, though.
In Russia, a guest on a Kremlin-owned television network expressed similar disbelief after watching Trump unleash a barrage of lies and unfounded accusations against Germany and other longtime European allies.
Julia Davis, founder of the Russian Media Monitor website, reported on and translated the exchange, which took place on a Russian political talk show on Wednesday.
In an interview on the program, Association for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation President Tatyana Parkhalina said she never could have imagined seeing a U.S. president attack the NATO alliance like Trump did on Wednesday.
"I never thought I’d live to see this!" Parkhalina said in disbelief. "Neither the USSR nor Russia, who tried many times to drive the wedge between transatlantic allies, but Washington is doing everything to break down the foundations of transatlantic alliance and unity."
Breaking up Western alliances has long been a goal of the Kremlin and continues to be a top priority under Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2014, Putin signed off on a new military doctrine that explicitly focused on NATO as the main existential threat and enemy of Russia. NATO is the only thing standing in the way of the Kremlin's vision of invading and taking over smaller countries like Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The U.S. intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election concluded that one of the underlying goals of Russia's influence operation was to split up longstanding international alliances, with NATO as priority number one.
When Trump attacks our NATO alliances, he's not just sacrificing American interests and betraying our allies — he's also doing Putin's bidding.
As the rest of the world looks on with horror this week, Russia will be enjoying the puppet show.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
