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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (228115)	3/3/2022 4:03:22 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 364358

My comment was really relating to the unproved claim that Trump said we should operate the military as a profit center, which is different from what you're alleging here. I tracked down your reference to Rucker and Leonig. Found it in the WaPo. Now reminded, I do recall Trump insisting that we should be taking Iraq"s oil as payment. Him actually saying it, not someone reporting that he said it. ---------------------- ...There is no higher purpose in Trump’s approach to foreign policy: it’s all about the Benjamins. In the Middle East, we ought to “ take the oil,” while in Europe and the Pacific we should be paid for the peacekeeping troops we’ve deployed. Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon should be profit centers.Trump’s original foreign policy team mistakenly believed this attitude was a result of gaps in his education. My Post colleagues Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, in their new book, “ A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America,” detail a tumultuous meeting six months into Trump’s term in which Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis — secretary of state and defense secretary, respectively, at the time — led a remedial tutorial session. “Trump appeared peeved by the schoolhouse vibe,” Leonnig and Rucker write mildly, and things quickly went off track. The mention of troops and missile defenses in South Korea provoked this from the president: “We should charge them rent. We should make them pay for our soldiers. We should make money off of everything.” The topic of NATO brought up the president’s belief that the United States should be paid for the security it provides. “We are owed money you haven’t been collecting!” Trump scolded the briefers. “You would totally go bankrupt if you had to run your own business.”... ....Regarding troops in Iraq, Trump demanded: “We spent $7 trillion .?.?. Where is the f---ing oil?”... washingtonpost.com