Mike Hunt

@Heccles94 Nope

Should the UK be allowing the USA to launch strikes from our air bases?

NATO is in far bigger danger than anyone realizes. And the reason has nothing to do with defense budgets. The real danger is psychological. It’s cultural. Europeans didn’t just free-ride on American security for 80 years. They built an entire identity around the idea that they evolved past the Americans protecting them. That identity is now the single biggest obstacle to Western survival. And the darkest irony is: we helped build it. After World War II, Europe wasn’t just economically shattered. Its culture was in ruins. The cities, the universities, the concert halls, the museums. Rubble. The Marshall Plan rebuilt the economy. But culture wasn’t a priority. Not at first. Then the Iron Curtain dropped. And suddenly culture became a weapon. American diplomats, academics, artists & scholars flooded Western Europe. We funded their universities. Supported their orchestras. Rebuilt their museums. Promoted their intellectual life. Not because European culture needed saving for its own sake. Because Eastern Europeans were struggling for Maslow’s mist basic needs. We needed the view from the other side of that Wall to be intoxicating. So America built Western Europe into a showcase of self-actualization. Art. Philosophy. Cafe culture. Long vacations. Universities where people studied literature instead of surviving. We were manufacturing jealousy. And it worked. The Wall came down. But here’s what no one accounted for. When you give a society self-actualization on someone else’s tab long enough, they forget it was a gift. They start believing it was organically theirs. And when they look at the country that funded it all, a country busy building aircraft carriers and semiconductor fabs and shale fields instead of reaching the Maslow’s pinnacle. An overweight American in a ball cap who can’t tell Monet from Pissarro. Who eats fast food. Who drives a truck. Who builds strip malls instead of piazzas. And to a culture trained in aesthetics but stripped of strategic awareness, that American looks uncivilized. So the arrogance takes root. And once a culture decides another is beneath them, they stop listening. Americans say wars are sometimes necessary: crude. Oil is the backbone of prosperity: unsophisticated. Kids build companies in garages that reshape the planet: crass. Wall Street finances the global economy: vulgar. Europe has no world-class technology sector. No military capable of strong defense. No energy independence. No AI capacity. What Europe has is culture. The culture we paid for at the expense of us reaching Maslow’s pinnacle. For decades that was fine. We funded the museums, protected the sea lanes, and tolerated the sneering because the arrangement worked. Then Europeans stopped keeping the contempt private. They started saying it to our faces. In their media. In their parliaments. At every international forum. “Americans are stupid. Americans are violent. Americans are a threat to democracy.” We could have moved the Louvre to NY. We could have built a Venice here. We could have stolen your best artists, designers, philosophers and more… like your conquering armies did for centuries. Instead we funded them. And all we asked for in return was to let us visit. You don’t have the military to defend your borders. You don’t have the technology to compete. You don’t have the energy to heat your homes without begging dictators. What you have is an 80-year superiority complex FUNDED BY AMERICANS, protected by American soldiers, and built on the false belief that self-actualization is civilization. It isn’t. Civilization is the ability to sustain itself. By that measure, Europe isn’t a civilization at all. It’s a dependency with better wine. That’s not a threat. It’s a weather report. Build a Navy. Or don’t. But stop lecturing the people who made you “better than us” Our “crudeness” our “stunted liberal education” our “ugly strip malls” are because we sacrificed our culture to support yours.

Then when you start a war with the likes of Iran and start whining for help there will be no allies at all. Leaving the U.S at the mercy of China, Russia and North Korea. Everyone will stop visiting the U.S. so tourism will drop. The entirety of the U.S. financial system will crash and put the country in the dark ages. The Dollar will be worthless. Shipping lanes closed. The list goes on and on. Not much thought goes into posts like yours.

I agree. But stop trade as well. Can’t have it both ways. Or Europe raise tariffs so high it makes it unaffordable for the U.S. to do so. Europe then becomes self sufficient. Builds its own military, removing the U.S. footprint out of Europe entirely so it has no QRF to defend itself against Russia or makes it impossible to bomb the likes of Iran. No more Ferrari’s, AUDI’s, BMW’s or Mercedes. Swiss watches, Ralph Lauren etc.

The best thing America could do, is remove itself from the international community. End all military & political alliances, & just trade. Defund @NATO & the @UN. The go sit in timeout for a few decades.

@YarvinBiodiesel @FalkTG English 👍

@MikeHunt_1972 @FalkTG

I repeat: The U.S. sent thousands of its 19 years old soldiers to die in Normandy, to free Europe and to end the biggest crime against humanity ever commited - by Europeans. It was just 81 years ago. The whole reason, France, Benelux etc. 🇫🇷 exist today is because of this heroism. My grandparents could grow up in a liberal democracy. Without the U.S. they would be raised at the H*tler Youth. We Europeans would still be in wars again and again, like 1914, 1866, 1870, 1795 etc. They brought peace, democracy, liberty and human rights. They invested billions of U.S. Dollars into Europe with the Marshall Fund. They gave us more than we ever had in our history before. They protected us for 7 decades with hundreds of thousands of soldiers against the cruelties of the Soviet Union. The terror we can see nowadays in Donetsk, would have happened in Bavaria, Bourgogne or the Netherlands in 1950 if there wasn’t the U.S. 🇺🇸 Who do we Europeans think we are to let that nation down, act like bad allies, calling their President names every day on television - and have full confidence we stand better alone. All of instagram is just about, why we’re better than the U.S. We owe them so much. We Europeans are most arrogant species on earth. And to cure this we have to face the truth.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer Not friends. Followers. I do ok with friends. You sit on your porch and play Duelling Banjo’s with yours.

@MikeHunt_1972 @AriFleischer So sorry to disappoint a toothless Brit and his 190 friends. Not sure how I’ll go on ….

My message here clearly struck a nerve. A few friends from when I was press secretary, domestically and abroad, don’t like what I said. Instead of seeing how Western European nations must change, they just want to attack Trump. The reason it struck a nerve is because they recognize that this time NATO nations are being held to account. They know they’ve come up short for decades and by denying us overflight rights, they’ve gone too far. Americans are fed up, especially with France and Spain. Trump won’t stand for it and they know it. They now fear the consequences of their inaction. The UK, unlike its days under Thatcher or Blair, is wishy-washy. They’ve often been a good allie, but this time they want to sit it out and have it both ways. We can use their bases, but only for limited operations. At least the UK spends real money on defense. France, Spain, and Italy are another story. So too is Canada. None of these four contribute seriously to NATO. They’re laggards, trying to get away with it. Spain and France force our pilots to fly thousands of miles out of the way (I thought they didn’t like carbon footprints) en route to Iran. Eastern Europe is a different story. They spend more on defense and they understand power. They lived under Soviet domination and recognize weakness when they see it. They won’t be weak. Western European governments, especially France, are good at issuing communiques and statements. They enjoy hosting conferences. They love to ponder deeply. Getting them to act is another matter, unless it’s to purchase Russian LNG, which they still do. The world is changing. Out of this war will come a new group of younger nations that understand real power and the importance of strength. The UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Eastern Europe will emerge stronger than ever. Western Europe will continue to fall behind. As for Trump, you don’t have to like him. He often says things none of his predecessors would say. But don’t underestimate the fact that US taxpayers are fed up with nations that don’t pull their weight, and then force our pilots to take risks and longer flights so we can rid the world from the menace that is Iran. Today’s Western European leaders would rather mollify Iran and pay them ransoms (trade) than support the US. Things are different today. We all know it. The UK, France, Spain and Italy (despite its Prime Minister) have earned the consequences that will unfold. They could have and should have supported us. Not as a NATO alliance. But as individual free nations. All we wanted was overflight rights and full access to airfields. They’ve made their choices. Soon, they’ll see the results.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer

@MikeHunt_1972 @AriFleischer Confidence in the life I’ve built by God’s Grace and arrogance are 2 different things. Knowledge that my country is the most powerful on earth is not arrogance, it’s a fact. Apparently it hurts your little feelings.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer Nah. I just think you are deluded.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer You are quite possibly the most arrogant woman I have conversed with on here. Not a good look.

@MikeHunt_1972 @AriFleischer You apparently don’t grasp the concept of “could” and “will”, but that’s perfectly okay. I’ve read enough of your TDS replies to recognize that you are not well.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer

@MikeHunt_1972 @AriFleischer THIS right here proves you are a fricken idiot.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer I’m fine thanks 👍

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer

The “bitten more than can be chewed” bit is just dumb. We could turn Iran into a glass parking lot at our whim, but choose not to do so. We don’t NEED the help of NATO, but it should be offered. What is like to hear from you is exactly what the USA will be without when Europe falls? My life won’t change one iota. That is the strength and stability of American life. There are few other nations on this planet that could say the same. Where would Europe be right now without the USA? Let go of your clutched pearls long enough to ponder that.

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer

@FarleyCook @AriFleischer It should be offered and it should be mandatory if the USA was attacked. But it wasn’t. The USA was the aggressor. So crack on

What happened to this guy who I voted for 3 times?

I’m not saying this country is without fault. It has got loads of problems. You can’t destroy anything without pleading for help when you have bitten off more than you can chew. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran now. I agreed with Afghanistan and happily went there. The USA was attacked on 9/11 which triggered Article 5. Trump attacked Iran. NATO didn’t. So his bullshit that some of you are seriously buying into beggars belief. His personal rants against the leaders of NATO countries that are not written for him by people with actual intelligence are making the country he leads a laughing stock. Which is a massive shame because personally I love America and its values.

Carnage is warranted. Get over it. The world has been plagued by the savages of the ME, and Americans are weary of having to get involved. Europe is being taken over by savages and it is being welcomed. Let’s examine the actual lemmings here, because it’s probably the conquering savages we will have to destroy next. Enjoy.

@Trumpinyourrage @AriFleischer

@MikeHunt_1972 @AriFleischer Actual Americans want no part of you to begin with only politicians so,let's get that straight from the start.