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New York Post
08-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Gov. Ron DeSantis warns Elon Musk about running ‘America Party' candidates against GOP: ‘Democrats would win'
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued Monday that billionaire Elon Musk could set the nation on a new course — but not by starting a new political party. 'I think Washington needs to be overhauled 100%, but I just don't think a third party is going to do it,' DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville, referring to Musk's intention to launch the cost-cutting focused 'America Party.' The Sunshine State governor and former GOP presidential primary candidate warned that if Musk-backed candidates vie against Republicans in competitive state races, Democrats will be the ones winning elections. 'The problem is, when you do another party, especially if you're running on some of the issues that he talks about, you know, that would end up, if he funds Senate candidates and House candidates in competitive races, that would likely end up meaning the Democrats would win all the competitive Senate and House races,' DeSantis, 46, said. 'I'm a Republican … I don't want to see that happen,' he added. 3 Gov. DeSantis suggested that Musk should focus his political efforts on getting a balanced budget amendment added to the Constitution. Getty Images DeSantis weighed in on Musk's effort to launch an alternative to the two-party system at the end of a nearly hour-long press conference on education. The governor's remarks were not prompted by reporters. DeSantis praised the Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink and X chief as 'one of the most innovative entrepreneurs … probably in world history' and said he appreciated Musk's efforts to help President Trump and Republicans ahead of the 2024 election and rein in government waste, fraud and abuse as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. 'I think he's got a lot more left in the tank,' he said, suggesting that Musk should support efforts to add balanced budget and term limit amendments to the Constitution, rather than start a new party. 3 Musk has Trump's agenda bill for the amount of money it adds to the deficit. REUTERS 3 Musk announced the name of his new political party on Saturday. REUTERS 'Honestly, if you're concerned about the debt … I don't think just electing a few better people is going to change the trajectory,' DeSantis argued. 'We need the incentives in Washington that are going to lead to these outcomes really regardless of the outcome of elections at this point.' The governor noted that dozens of states, under Article V of the Constitution, have formally petitioned Congress to draft a balanced budget amendment, and argued that if Musk were to support those efforts, he would have a 'monumental impact.' 'I'm a believer in trying to work this stuff out through the Republican process … but I think even more than that, doing these amendments — which are within our grasp — it doesn't require Congress,' DeSantis said. 'You can do it through Article V and do it through the states … that would have a huge impact on the trajectory of the country.' Musk announced the formation of the America Party in response to GOP lawmakers passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law on July 4. The megabill is set to add $3.9 trillion to the nation's debt over the next 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Musk, 54, has fumed that the legislation makes a 'mockery of the work' done by his DOGE team to rein in the deficit.
Politico
25-06-2025
- Business
- Politico
Trump embraces NATO allies — except for Spain
THE HAGUE — President Donald Trump lashed out at Spain on Wednesday, saying it would have to pay 'twice as much' in tariffs after Madrid refused to meet NATO's 5 percent spending target. It was unclear how Trump could single out Spain directly, as it is part of the European Union, which negotiates with the U.S. on trade as a bloc. Still, his caustic comments and promises of retaliatory measures are the latest example of how the president views tariffs as an expansive tool to bludgeon other nations into accepting his terms, even when the NATO defense spending agreement has nothing to do with trade. 'We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and will make them pay twice as much. I'm serious about that,' Trump told reporters at the end of this year's NATO summit. Trump's fit of pique came amid what was otherwise a cheerful victory lap — so conciliatory toward NATO and European allies it almost seemed out-of-character for a man who has a long history of denigrating the transatlantic alliance. During a free-wheeling press conference, Trump affirmed his commitment to NATO, intimated that he could still supply Ukraine with aid, chastised Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoke admiringly of other leaders' love for their countries. The president also used his platform to defend his decision to strike Iran's nuclear sites as an unequivocal success. He also lashed out at media outlets that reported on intelligence assessments which suggested Iranian capabilities were set back mere months. Trump heralded NATO's adoption of a new spending goal for members to devote 5 percent of gross domestic product to defense over the next decade as 'a monumental win for the United States, because we were carrying much more than our fair share, quite unfair actually.' But rather than grousing about the past, Trump reveled in his own catalytic role in helping to rebalance the alliance. 'They said, 'You did it, sir, you did it,'' Trump said. 'Well, I don't know if I did it, but I think I did.' Asked about Secretary General Mark Rutte's over-the-top flattery, including calling him 'daddy' earlier in the day, Trump joked that the comment was made 'very affectionately.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio, standing behind the president, struggled to suppress laughter. The light tone at the summit's conclusion was far different than past NATO summits involving Trump, which were characterized by dread among allies. Instead of criticising European freeloading or hedging on America's Article V commitments, Trump declared outright that NATO allies' 'passion' for their collective defense had erased much of his long-held skepticism about the alliance. 'I left here differently,' Trump said. 'I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It's not a rip off, and we're here to help them protect their country.' Trump took the stage for his press conference shortly after a nearly hour-long meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he described as 'very nice' and praised for 'fighting a brave battle.' The president also did not rule out approving additional defense aid for Ukraine — 'we'll see what happens,' he said. Trump expressed empathy for a Ukrainian correspondent who said her husband was in the military and part of the war effort. Perhaps most notably after months of both-sidesing the conflict, he put the onus of ending the war squarely on one side. 'Vladimir Putin really has to end that war,' Trump said. While European leaders were full of praise for Trump at the summit and credited him with the historic increase in defense spending, some said his tariff negotiations threatened the effort to strengthen collective defense. 'We cannot, among allies, say that we must spend more…and wage a trade war,' French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the summit. 'It is very important that we can return to what should be the rule within a group of allies…a true trade peace.' At a summit marked by a highly intentional, if not forced, degree of comity, the reprimand from Macron, who was also the only leader to criticize Trump's decision to strike Iran last week, stood out. Trump spent a good portion of his closing press conference defending the Iran strikes, declaring that they were 'very, very successful — total obliteration' and lashing out at CNN and The New York Times over reports that he said 'demeaned' the troops involved. With intelligence assessments still coming in, Trump said the 'most respected' reports confirmed that Iran was not able to relocate its nuclear material ahead of the U.S. attacks. 'We think we hit 'em so hard and so fast, they didn't get to move,' Trump said. 'We destroyed the nuclear. It's blown up…to kingdom come.' Trump also compared the attack to the nuclear bombs the United States detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. 'That ended the war, too. This ended a war in a different way, but it was so devastating,' Trump said, claiming that the use of 'bunker-buster bombs' has 'paved the way for peace' in the Middle East. Asked what gave him confidence the day-old ceasefire between Iran and Israel would hold, Trump said: 'They're both tired, exhausted. They were both satisfied to go home and get out.'
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump plans to tout Iran strikes at NATO summit focused on European defense spending
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The singular narrative of this NATO summit is European allies investing more in their own defense. But Donald Trump isn't interested in following anyone else's script. At his press conference here on Wednesday, the president intends to talk as much about the U.S. strikes on Iran and its fragile ceasefire with Israel — for which he credits himself — as he does the historic defense spending pledge NATO members agreed to this week largely at his behest, according to a White House official granted anonymity to discuss the president's plans. And as Trump made clear in his comments on Tuesday, his view of the transatlantic alliance is a departure from predecessors who long described Article V as sacrosanct. When asked aboard Air Force One if he was committed to that bedrock principle of the NATO charter, under which an attack on any member nation is deemed an attack on all, Trump hedged. 'Depends on your definition,' Trump said. 'There's numerous definitions of Article V.' A second White House official, also granted anonymity to discuss the president's thoughts about NATO, said the president was referring to the open-ended nature of Article V's potential application and how circumstances would likely dictate what allies would be compelled to do to defend a member country in the event of an attack. Trump has said previously he might only come to the defense of nations that are meeting NATO's agreed upon spending benchmarks. When pressed on the matterTuesday, he said he was 'committed to being their friend. You know I've become friends with many of those leaders. And I'm committed to helping them.' 'I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety,' Trump added, declining to get specific. Trump was all smiles as he posed for a 'family photo' alongside the other leaders Tuesday evening at a welcome dinner hosted by the Dutch royal family at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch. The group included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who Trump is expected to meet with on Wednesday in between the main NATO plenary session and his closing press conference. Trump's comments came just hours after Secretary General Mark Rutte chided those who still question America's commitment to the longstanding defense pact under Trump. He urged Europeans to 'stop worrying so much' given all that the U.S. is contributing to continental defenses. 'They are there, they are with us,' Rutte said. But even at this summit engineered to appease Trump by cementing a spending pledge for Europe to share more of the burden of its defense, the questions won't go away. 'Europe and the U.S. seem to share this goal of rebalancing the alliance,' said one European official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations among EU officials. 'But with Trump there is always going to be this uncertainty about how much America will really be there for us if and when we need them to be.' Some of the deeper anxiety stems from the Pentagon's ongoing review of its force posture in Europe, which has NATO members nervous that some U.S. forces may be relocated out of Europe in the months ahead or on a timeline that doesn't allow them to boost their own forces. But a lot of the concern relates to the views the president has expressed, including comments Tuesday likening the alliance to a failing company that he helped revive. 'NATO was broke,' Trump said, noting that only 'seven of the 28' countries in the alliance at that time were 'paying their dues.' The alliance agreed in 2014 that all member countries would aim to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024. While Trump correctly says that it wasn't until after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine that a majority of NATO members were at or above the 2 percent level, the pledge was never binding or required for continued membership in the alliance. Rhetoric aside, Trump has moved into closer alignment with NATO allies overall, largely as a result of Russia's unwillingness to go along with his attempts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. And the alliance's new commitment that member nations will spend 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035 marks the fulfillment of a foreign policy priority that Trump has been calling for since 2016. With his efforts to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin having hit a dead end, Trump has 'reoriented and is no longer so focused on finding a deal with Moscow,' said Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, a global risk assessment firm. 'They're now putting a lot more effort into engaging with the Europeans on what the additional defense spend looks like. That's a big shift from just a few months ago when everyone thought Trump was about to go to Moscow.' Trump may not be withdrawing the U.S. from the alliance, as he threatened he might during the 2018 summit in Brussels if allies didn't get serious about defense spending. But he's still causing concern among European leaders because he's not consulting with European partners the way his predecessors did. 'They shouldn't expect him to at this point,' the second White House official said. 'He's going to be decisive and do what he thinks is best for America.' Trump, another European official noted, didn't give European leaders much warning before he authorized last Saturday's B-2 strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Although he did leave leaders at the G7 summit in Canada last week with the sense that he was leaning toward such an attack. While he criticized Spain for requesting an exemption from NATO's new defense spending mandate, the president reaffirmed his belief that the U.S. shouldn't have to abide by it either. America spends 3.4 percent of GDP on defense, just shy of the 3.5 percent benchmark countries will have a decade to reach. But Trump's stance has less to do with America's capabilities than with its self interest. As he made clear, he's philosophically opposed to continuing to be responsible for defending Europe. 'I don't think we should pay what everyone else [does]. You know; they're in Europe. We're not,' he said. 'A lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads, so it can take heavy equipment. And you know, we don't have any roads in Europe. We don't have any bridges in Europe.'
Politico
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Trump plans to tout Iran strikes at NATO summit focused on European defense spending
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The singular narrative of this NATO summit is European allies investing more in their own defense. But Donald Trump isn't interested in following anyone else's script. At his press conference here on Wednesday, the president intends to talk as much about the U.S. strikes on Iran and its fragile ceasefire with Israel — for which he credits himself — as he does the historic defense spending pledge NATO members agreed to this week largely at his behest, according to a White House official granted anonymity to discuss the president's plans. And as Trump made clear in his comments on Tuesday, his view of the transatlantic alliance is a departure from predecessors who long described Article V as sacrosanct. When asked aboard Air Force One if he was committed to that bedrock principle of the NATO charter, under which an attack on any member nation is deemed an attack on all, Trump hedged. 'Depends on your definition,' Trump said. 'There's numerous definitions of Article V.' A second White House official, also granted anonymity to discuss the president's thoughts about NATO, said the president was referring to the open-ended nature of Article V's potential application and how circumstances would likely dictate what allies would be compelled to do to defend a member country in the event of an attack. Trump has said previously he might only come to the defense of nations that are meeting NATO's agreed upon spending benchmarks. When pressed on the matterTuesday, he said he was 'committed to being their friend. You know I've become friends with many of those leaders. And I'm committed to helping them.' 'I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety,' Trump added, declining to get specific. Trump was all smiles as he posed for a 'family photo' alongside the other leaders Tuesday evening at a welcome dinner hosted by the Dutch royal family at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch. The group included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who Trump is expected to meet with on Wednesday in between the main NATO plenary session and his closing press conference. Trump's comments came just hours after Secretary General Mark Rutte chided those who still question America's commitment to the longstanding defense pact under Trump. He urged Europeans to 'stop worrying so much' given all that the U.S. is contributing to continental defenses. 'They are there, they are with us,' Rutte said. But even at this summit engineered to appease Trump by cementing a spending pledge for Europe to share more of the burden of its defense, the questions won't go away. 'Europe and the U.S. seem to share this goal of rebalancing the alliance,' said one European official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations among EU officials. 'But with Trump there is always going to be this uncertainty about how much America will really be there for us if and when we need them to be.' Some of the deeper anxiety stems from the Pentagon's ongoing review of its force posture in Europe, which has NATO members nervous that some U.S. forces may be relocated out of Europe in the months ahead or on a timeline that doesn't allow them to boost their own forces. But a lot of the concern relates to the views the president has expressed, including comments Tuesday likening the alliance to a failing company that he helped revive. 'NATO was broke,' Trump said, noting that only 'seven of the 28' countries in the alliance at that time were 'paying their dues.' The alliance agreed in 2014 that all member countries would aim to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024. While Trump correctly says that it wasn't until after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine that a majority of NATO members were at or above the 2 percent level, the pledge was never binding or required for continued membership in the alliance. Rhetoric aside, Trump has moved into closer alignment with NATO allies overall, largely as a result of Russia's unwillingness to go along with his attempts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. And the alliance's new commitment that member nations will spend 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035 marks the fulfillment of a foreign policy priority that Trump has been calling for since 2016. With his efforts to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin having hit a dead end, Trump has 'reoriented and is no longer so focused on finding a deal with Moscow,' said Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, a global risk assessment firm. 'They're now putting a lot more effort into engaging with the Europeans on what the additional defense spend looks like. That's a big shift from just a few months ago when everyone thought Trump was about to go to Moscow.' Trump may not be withdrawing the U.S. from the alliance, as he threatened he might during the 2018 summit in Brussels if allies didn't get serious about defense spending. But he's still causing concern among European leaders because he's not consulting with European partners the way his predecessors did. 'They shouldn't expect him to at this point,' the second White House official said. 'He's going to be decisive and do what he thinks is best for America.' Trump, another European official noted, didn't give European leaders much warning before he authorized last Saturday's B-2 strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Although he did leave leaders at the G7 summit in Canada last week with the sense that he was leaning toward such an attack. While he criticized Spain for requesting an exemption from NATO's new defense spending mandate, the president reaffirmed his belief that the U.S. shouldn't have to abide by it either. America spends 3.4 percent of GDP on defense, just shy of the 3.5 percent benchmark countries will have a decade to reach. But Trump's stance has less to do with America's capabilities than with its self interest. As he made clear, he's philosophically opposed to continuing to be responsible for defending Europe. 'I don't think we should pay what everyone else [does]. You know; they're in Europe. We're not,' he said. 'A lot of that money goes to rebuilding their bridges, their roads, so it can take heavy equipment. And you know, we don't have any roads in Europe. We don't have any bridges in Europe.'
Washington Post
24-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump questions U.S. commitment to NATO defense
THE HAGUE — President Donald Trump fell short Tuesday of fully endorsing Washington's promise to defend its allies, saying of NATO nations that 'I'm committed to being their friends,' but that whether he is committed to their mutual defense 'depends on your definition.' The comments on Air Force One as Trump flew to a gathering of NATO leaders in the Netherlands unsettled some officials in the defense alliance, which during Trump's years in office has repeatedly been roiled by his mixed attitudes toward common defense. During his second term, Trump has mostly taken a gentler approach to the alliance than he did in his first term, saying that he appreciated Europe's rising defense spending. Asked whether he was committed to 'Article V,' which is NATO's security guarantee that treats an attack on one NATO nation as an attack on the alliance as a whole, Trump said that 'it depends on your definition. There's numerous definitions of Article V. You know that, right?' 'But I'm committed to being their friends. You know, I've become friends with many of those leaders, and I'm committed to helping them,' he said. Trump added: 'I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don't want to do it on the back of an airplane.' The U.S. leader and his team have generally been positive about NATO in recent months amid a military buildup in Europe following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. NATO leaders are set on Wednesday to endorse a plan pushed by Trump to boost their defense spending to 5 percent of their annual economic turnover, a significant rise from the current 2 percent target. European nations need to 'stop worrying' about the U.S. commitment to NATO so long as they hike their military spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at the start of the two-day leaders' summit in The Hague, hours before Trump was set to arrive and before his comments on Air Force One. 'There is total commitment by the U.S. president and the U.S. senior leadership to NATO,' Rutte told a public forum. Still, he added, this comes with a U.S. 'expectation' that European countries and Canada 'deal with this huge irritant' that they don't spend more on their defenses. 'My message to my European colleagues is stop worrying so much. Start to make sure that you get investment plans done, that you get the industrial base open and running, that the support for Ukraine remains at a higher level,' Rutte added. 'This is what you should work on, and stop running around being worried about the U.S.,' he said. 'They are there. They are with us.' Trump also posted multiple positive comments about the defense alliance on Truth Social while on board Air Force One on Tuesday, saying that he was 'heading to NATO where, at worst, it will be a much calmer period than what I just went through with Israel and Iran. I look forward to seeing all of my very good European friends, and others. Hopefully, much will be accomplished!' Still, Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, something that unsettles European policymakers who view the Kremlin as their principal security threat. NATO intelligence assessments are that Putin continues to believe that attacking an alliance country would be a major risk, and that he thinks security guarantees remain in place, a senior NATO official said Tuesday, briefing reporters under ground rules of anonymity. 'I don't know that Putin is really looking for a lot of nuance in definitions,' the official said. 'From his perspective he does not want war with NATO. It would not work out well for him. He knows that. And so I think that his broad confidence in Article V remains quite solid.' Ellen Francis and Natalie Allison contributed to this report.
