The Winnipeg Free Press is a loose cannon in the Trump campaign

Opinion

There have been claims in the past that Donald Trump is some kind of master strategist who plays a four- or five-dimensional chess game that his opponents cannot understand.

Part of it is true, of course: There are some things about Donald Trump and his campaign that are very hard to understand.

At a campaign rally in South Carolina last weekend, Trump took aim at the United States' military allies, saying he was pushing countries to pay more for defense spending and the NATO alliance by telling the leader of a “big country”. , in the event of an attack by Russia, regardless of the agreements, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever they want. You have to pay.”

It is a trademark of the Trump story to interact with an unnamed person whose origins are so murky that it is impossible to prove that he actually happened.

But this Trump story is more than just a horror yarn.

When Russia “does what they want” in attacking Ukraine, it is very disturbing that a potential US president would tacitly support such an action.

It is also the kind of propaganda expected of a popular candidate who seems unable to imagine the far-reaching effects of his words.

In fact, he may never have to learn a version of the basic lesson most lawyers learn: Don't ask a question if you don't know what the answer will be.

As she made her point about leaving NATO's European partners in trouble, she asked her South Carolina audience about her only rival in the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley: “Where's your husband? Oh, it's far away. He is far away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He's gone!'

Nikki Haley's husband, Michael, was, in fact, far away – he served in the military unit of the US Army Africa Command as a member of the South Carolina Army National Guard, where he was for several months. (Ignoring or disparaging the military service of another candidate's spouse, especially coming from someone like Trump, who has vehemently avoided US military service.)

Trump either didn't know or didn't care about the misguided insinuation in Haley's questions about her husband.

He may not know or care about the consequences of withdrawing from international military agreements, or that the US Congress passed a law in December 2023 that prevents the president from acting on his own. Dismantling NATO, with approval by the US Senate or an act of Congress, is exactly what Trump threatened about the alliance during his last term in office.