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[September 2024] JD Vance says US could drop support for NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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Sure, but it's not the US's job to protect the world. I'm a US citizen, and I'm not a fan of us spending ~5x vs Germany on defense, especially when Germany is such an economic powerhouse in the EU.
I would really like to cut defense spending, but for that to happen, other NATO countries need to increase their defense spending. I absolutely think we should stay in NATO (for the reasons you stated), but NATO is supposed to be an alliance, not a set of countries protected by the US. Yes, it's in our interest to protect the EU, but it's also in the EU's interest to protect the US. We should have each other's back.
No, they don't. The US military spending far outpaces any other country. The US spends more than the next 10 countries combined! You don't "need" that much spending, but your GDP is happy for that extra trillion every year that some day will trickle down for sure wink wink.
In summary, your rhetoric is pure propaganda of conservative talking points, unfortunately.
It's really not.
While I agree we need to drastically reduce military spending, that decision has consequences. We'd need to shut down foreign bases, reduce naval presence around the globe, and increase our reliance on reserves instead of standing military. If we do that, that'll embolden other countries (like China, Iran, and Russia) to fill that void unless other partners step up.
Military spending (and deficit spending in general) is a major issue I'm concerned about, and I'm unhappy with both major parties here. I like Trump's pressure on the EU to step up their part, but I don't like his increases to military spending. I like Biden's and Harris focus on social programs instead of military spending, but I don't like their lack of cuts. Neither party is actually interested in turning swords into plow shears, they just court the military industrial complex differently.
We need to increase taxes and cut spending, yet both parties seem to do the opposite.