Don Trump – The US President behaves like a mafia boss

Braunschweiger Zeitung Don Trump – The US President behaves like a mafia boss Johannes A. Kaufmann • 2 hours • 2 minutes reading time The Godfather: Trump behaves like a mafia boss towards Ukraine, says Johannes A. Kaufmann. When it comes to the current US President, there is only the devil or the Messiah. While some would follow their idol even if he – as he himself once said – shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York, others, including many German US correspondents, suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, the compulsive need to condemn every move Trump makes. The fact that even the majority of Latinos in the USA support the deportation of illegal immigrants is often overlooked. Useful measures by the Trump administration are either ignored - such as the first financial audit of the Department of Defense (2018) - or condemned - such as the cutbacks in the bureaucracy or the discriminatory diversity ideology that has gotten out of hand. Trump's criticism of NATO partners in Europe is justified Even behind Trump's constant jabs at his own allies there is a certain justification. "Canadians tend to be extremely complacent towards Americans," admits Canadian journalist Jen Gerson, "especially when it comes to our health care." Canada has been prioritizing its health care spending for decades - knowing that if there is any doubt, Americans with significantly worse care "will bleed and die for us." This applies to us Europeans as well. The "peace dividend" that went into expanding the German welfare state was paid for to a considerable extent from the US defense budget. In the mid-1960s, Germany invested around four percent of its gross domestic product in defense. In 2005, it was just over one percent. It is understandable that Trump no longer wants to play along. But Trump's morally justifiable attitude has given way to completely immoral behavior toward Ukraine. He would have no problem if the USA asked for preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources as thanks for its help after the war, writes columnist Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times: "But now, and without security guarantees in return? Don Corleone would be ashamed to demand something like that. Not Don Trump." Trump lets the free West down in the fight against Putin's aggression First, Trump called Ukrainian President Zelensky a dictator and accused him of having started the actual dictator Putin's robbery of Ukraine himself. And then he played the mafia boss who extorts protection money - only he doesn't even offer protection to the person being extorted. Moreover, the amount demanded was four times the amount of support provided so far, worth around 120 billion dollars. Friedman describes this approach as "shameful". It is also frightening for Europe. Perhaps a shock was needed to shake us out of our complacent, pacifist arrogance towards the "warmongering" USA. Europe must now massively rearm and finally take its place in the alliance that is committed to maintaining a rights-based world order. This includes standing firmly by Ukraine's side against Russian aggression. We can only hope that the USA under Trump has not already completely abandoned this alliance.