America First - Nicholas J. Fuentes - The NATO Racket | America First Ep. 198

00:00:02.000 Good evening, everybody.

00:00:03.000 You are watching America First.

00:00:05.000 My name is Nicholas J. Fuentes.

00:00:06.000 We've got a great show for you tonight.

00:00:08.000 I'm a little bit late, and I apologize.

00:00:11.000 I just got done actually just about 25 minutes ago with the Red Elephant stream.

00:00:16.000 So I was over on the channel of Vince, and so it runs a little bit late sometimes.

00:00:22.000 I run a little bit late sometimes when you have two streams in one night, but that's okay.

00:00:27.000 You get more content, right?

00:00:28.000 So apologize for that.

00:00:30.000 We're not too late, but that's okay.

00:00:32.000 We've got a big show for you tonight.

00:00:33.000 There's a lot going on.

00:00:34.000 Tonight we're talking about the NATO summit, of course.

00:00:40.000 President Trump landed in Brussels, Belgium yesterday to meet with 26 other, is it 26?

00:00:46.000 I think it's 26, 27, maybe.

00:00:49.000 20 some NATO countries to discuss the future of the alliance.

00:00:53.000 And it's been a pretty rocky start so far, very tense.

00:00:57.000 President Trump tweeting out a video this morning of himself berating the NATO Secretary General.

00:01:03.000 About the Nord Stream 2 pipeline contracted by Germany.

00:01:07.000 So, we'll be talking about that.

00:01:08.000 We'll be talking about the $200 billion in tariffs announced by the president today against China.

00:01:15.000 Nobody's talking about that.

00:01:17.000 I guess the NATO stuff has overshadowed it, but really, $200 billion?

00:01:21.000 That's a lot of tariffs.

00:01:22.000 So, we'll be getting into that.

00:01:24.000 It's a 10% tariff.

00:01:26.000 So, different, we had March $3 billion worth of tariffs, which $3 billion, okay, talking about $200 billion this time around.

00:01:35.000 March 26th.

00:01:36.000 You had $3 billion worth of tariffs going to effect.

00:01:40.000 Earlier this month, you had about $36 billion worth of tariffs going to effect.

00:01:45.000 And today, they just announced $200 billion worth of tariffs.

00:01:51.000 So we'll be talking about that.

00:01:52.000 And then, if we have time, I'd like to watch a little video.

00:01:56.000 Somebody sent this to me.

00:01:57.000 I have to watch Rawhide's video.

00:01:59.000 He sent that to me yesterday.

00:02:01.000 So we'll have to watch that.

00:02:02.000 But also, I wanted to share this one with you.

00:02:04.000 Our old friend, is it Rich?

00:02:06.000 Rich Maddalena, who's running for governor in Maryland, he did a little.

00:02:10.000 Clip for his campaign, and I gotta tell you, I was laughing out loud watching this.

00:02:14.000 I wanted to share it with you.

00:02:16.000 Our buddy Madalino, he's running for governor over in Maryland, and you remember this is the one who kissed his husband, okay?

00:02:23.000 Husband on his announcement video when he announced he was running for governor.

00:02:29.000 And we reviewed that as a part of Pride Month in June, and today he's back.

00:02:34.000 He's back for more, or we're back for more with him.

00:02:37.000 He posted some kind of a video where he's reading off mean tweets.

00:02:42.000 With his partner.

00:02:43.000 And it's the funniest thing in the world because people are just being brutally honest about what's going on there.

00:02:49.000 And you'll have to see, but it's pretty fun.

00:02:52.000 And it should be a fun show.

00:02:52.000 We'll be watching that.

00:02:54.000 Pretty jam packed episode.

00:02:55.000 The mug is back.

00:02:57.000 And so we should have some fun.

00:02:59.000 Lots and lots to get into.

00:03:00.000 It's been very exciting seeing what's been going on with NATO.

00:03:03.000 I was watching it all day.

00:03:05.000 I thought the president was supposed to make a speech today because I'm watching and watching.

00:03:12.000 And waiting for the speech to happen, you know, because I watched the clip he posted on Twitter earlier today, which is two minutes, and I got all jazzed up.

00:03:19.000 I wasn't able to sleep so well last night, tossing and turning all night, all kinds, you know, it's very difficult.

00:03:26.000 But then I wake up while I get out of bed.

00:03:29.000 I pick up my phone at around five or six, and I see this is epic.

00:03:33.000 Trump is taking these people to task.

00:03:35.000 He's reminding the Europeans that we own them. 1.00

00:03:38.000 Very good stuff. 0.99

00:03:39.000 And then I'm waiting for the speech.

00:03:41.000 I see it multiple live streams.

00:03:43.000 Donald Trump's speech at NATO.

00:03:44.000 So I'm watching the coverage all day, all this goofy stuff.

00:03:47.000 They're playing songs, the Belgian guys talking about soccer.

00:03:51.000 No speech.

00:03:52.000 So I don't know if that'll happen tomorrow or what, but I was a little bit disappointed by that.

00:03:56.000 So I worked out today as well.

00:03:59.000 I got very sick.

00:04:00.000 It was kind of a rough day for me.

00:04:01.000 Me.

00:04:02.000 Didn't sleep very well, but hey, I went to the gym anyway.

00:04:04.000 I'm a trooper, and usually I don't like to talk about it, but today I'll relay to you the story.

00:04:10.000 I go to the gym, okay, I'm working out.

00:04:12.000 It is just raw, virile power, okay?

00:04:17.000 It is primal power in the gym.

00:04:20.000 Brutal, explosive movements, fluid motions.

00:04:24.000 I'm throwing weight around.

00:04:26.000 It's like 10,000 pounds.

00:04:27.000 I'm lifting over my head, throwing it around the gym.

00:04:31.000 And then I get really, really sick.

00:04:32.000 I get home.

00:04:34.000 And I feel like I'm dying.

00:04:35.000 Now, people said this was because I didn't eat before I worked out.

00:04:38.000 People said it was because I didn't sleep.

00:04:40.000 There are a lot of reasons people say that it didn't go the way I thought it would.

00:04:44.000 But, you know, I'm thinking to myself, when I consult people about fitness advice, I'm talking to Anglos, I'm talking to Slavs, I'm talking to these kinds of people.

00:04:55.000 And then it dawned on me wait a minute, I'm talking to all the wrong people.

00:04:59.000 I'm talking to my Slavic friend today, you may know him, and he's telling me to eat an apple.

00:05:04.000 He's telling me to.

00:05:06.000 Apple as a meal.

00:05:07.000 I'm talking to my buddy Sean, Irish, telling me to potato for breakfast.

00:05:13.000 And then it dawned on me I said, wait a minute, I've been going about it all the wrong way. 0.98

00:05:17.000 The Slavs, the Anglos who I've been consulting, they could not possibly understand the Mediterranean consciousness. 0.99

00:05:26.000 They could not possibly understand the consciousness of a Southern European, of an Italian. 1.00

00:05:34.000 I don't need to be eating potatoes and apples. 1.00

00:05:36.000 Keep all that. 0.97

00:05:37.000 Ridiculous stuff. 0.93

00:05:38.000 What I need is lots of carbs. 0.98

00:05:40.000 I need lots of pasta, lots of gravy.

00:05:43.000 I need, that's what I need.

00:05:45.000 I need lots of naps, activity that isn't very strenuous.

00:05:49.000 This is what I need in my life.

00:05:52.000 And I think if I get on that program, that'll be much more conducive to my biology, my epigenetics. 0.85

00:06:00.000 You know, they have me doing this Protestant thing or this Slavic thing where I'm working really, really hard and I'm eating very meager preparation.

00:06:08.000 Portions and I'm eating, you know, all these tubers and things. 0.58

00:06:12.000 We're going about it all wrong. 0.98

00:06:14.000 What I need is to have a woman, either my wife or my mother, make me a big plate of pasta, and then I need to take it easy for a little bit, and then maybe I do some leisurely exercises. 0.99

00:06:26.000 Maybe I walk a little bit.

00:06:27.000 I think that's the ticket, right?

00:06:28.000 That's the ticket to bulking up in a way that is conducive to my body.

00:06:32.000 So I figured it out.

00:06:33.000 That's the program from now on.

00:06:35.000 So I'm going to be, hey, if you see me around town, I'll be shoving pizza in my face, Italian beef, something like that.

00:06:41.000 Maybe I'll be boxing.

00:06:42.000 Maybe that's the ticket, right? 1.00

00:06:44.000 That's what Italians do. 1.00

00:06:46.000 That's what Rocky does. 1.00

00:06:48.000 That's what Raging Bull does. 0.89

00:06:50.000 Maybe that'll be.

00:06:51.000 That's the exercise that I need.

00:06:53.000 Because, you know, I don't think we really do the weightlifting.

00:06:56.000 I don't know if that's the case.

00:06:57.000 I think it's more that kind of thing.

00:06:59.000 But anyway, that's my own little personal tale.

00:07:02.000 But we've got to get into the news.

00:07:04.000 You came here for NATO, not for that.

00:07:06.000 So we're going to watch really briefly here.

00:07:09.000 We're going to watch the clip of the president.

00:07:12.000 It's only two minutes.

00:07:13.000 But it's a must watch.

00:07:14.000 I mean, really, you've just got to see it for yourself.

00:07:16.000 I couldn't believe it when I was watching it that he was going at them so hard.

00:07:22.000 I've never seen him go this hard before against anybody.

00:07:27.000 I mean, even against Hillary Clinton, against any one of the.

00:07:29.000 Well, maybe against Hillary Clinton.

00:07:31.000 Maybe that's the one exception.

00:07:32.000 But, I mean, it was really something special.

00:07:34.000 So I'm going to pull it up for you, and then we'll discuss, we'll analyze, we'll talk about NATO's relationship with Russia, we'll talk about the pipeline he brings up and other things.

00:07:43.000 So I'm going to bring it up right now.

00:07:46.000 And let's see, okay.

00:07:47.000 I think we're all set here.

00:07:48.000 I'm gonna turn on the volume.

00:07:50.000 See, it's so clean now.

00:07:51.000 Now that I figured out the technology, it's so clean, it's so quick, right?

00:07:55.000 Okay, so here we go.

00:07:56.000 I'm gonna mute my mic and I'll play the clip for you.

00:07:59.000 It's very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where you're supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.

00:08:13.000 So we're protecting Germany, we're protecting France, we're protecting all of these countries.

00:08:19.000 And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they're paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia.

00:08:28.000 So we're supposed to protect you against Russia, but they're paying billions of dollars to Russia, and I think that's very inappropriate.

00:08:35.000 And the former chancellor of Germany is the head of the pipeline company that's supplying the gas.

00:08:41.000 Ultimately, Germany will have almost 70% of their country controlled by Russia with natural gas.

00:08:50.000 So you tell me, is that appropriate? 0.54

00:08:52.000 I mean, I've been complaining about this from the time I got in.

00:08:55.000 It should have never been allowed to have happened.

00:08:58.000 But Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they were getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline.

00:09:07.000 And you tell me if that's appropriate because I think it's not.

00:09:10.000 And I think it's a very bad thing for NATO, and I don't think it should have happened.

00:09:14.000 And I think we have to talk to Germany about it.

00:09:16.000 On top of that, Germany is just paying a little bit over 1 percent, whereas the United States, in actual numbers, is paying 4.2 percent of a much larger GDP.

00:09:28.000 So I think that's inappropriate also.

00:09:30.000 You know, we're protecting Germany, we're protecting France, we're protecting everybody, and yet we're paying a lot of money to protect.

00:09:36.000 Now, this has been going on for decades.

00:09:39.000 This has been brought up by other presidents, but other presidents never did anything about it because I don't think they understood it or they just didn't want to get involved.

00:09:47.000 But I have to bring it up because I think it's very unfair to our country, it's very unfair to our taxpayer.

00:09:53.000 And I think that these countries have to step it up, not over a 10 year period, they have to step it up immediately.

00:09:58.000 Germany is a rich country.

00:10:00.000 They talk about they're going to increase it a tiny bit by 2030.

00:10:05.000 Well, they could increase it immediately tomorrow and have no problem.

00:10:10.000 I don't think it's fair to the United States.

00:10:12.000 So we're going to have to do something because we're not going to put up with it.

00:10:15.000 We can't put up with it, and it's inappropriate.

00:10:21.000 Well, there you have it, folks.

00:10:22.000 I mean, really, have you ever seen anything like that?

00:10:24.000 Could you, in your wildest imagination, picture that an American president would?

00:10:30.000 Would talk like that?

00:10:31.000 I mean, that's just crazy to me.

00:10:32.000 And I love, maybe the best part about the video is the reaction.

00:10:36.000 I mean, you could tell throughout how uncomfortable.

00:10:40.000 I mean, you look at John Kelly, you look at Pompeo, look at this woman in the background.

00:10:44.000 She looks terrified.

00:10:46.000 Wonderful.

00:10:46.000 I mean, this is what the country needs, right?

00:10:49.000 And so people are very uncomfortable, obviously.

00:10:52.000 I think these people did not expect this.

00:10:53.000 This is the Secretary General of NATO.

00:10:57.000 So this is not Germany, this is NATO people.

00:10:59.000 But anyway, I mean, he's right.

00:11:01.000 I mean, he's got a point.

00:11:01.000 Right?

00:11:02.000 So he's talking about number one, he's talking about the contributions of the member states.

00:11:08.000 He's talking about the fact that America pays a lot more for the military.

00:11:12.000 And I talked about this on the World Report podcast yesterday, if you've gotten a chance to listen to it.

00:11:17.000 The way that NATO works and what it's predicated on is something called collective defense, which is to say that the Soviet Union, as it were, would be less likely to attack a country like West Germany if it were attacking 20 countries as opposed to just one country.

00:11:34.000 And so, the whole point of collective defense is that if you have the UK with a strong military, and you have Italy and France and Spain and America and Canada, and they all have strong militaries, well, Russia's not going to attack all those countries.

00:11:49.000 It would be much more costly.

00:11:51.000 It would be a much bigger undertaking if they're talking about going to war against many developed, advanced, strong, militarily countries as opposed to just one.

00:12:00.000 And so, the point of NATO, what we're talking about when we talk about these percentages, is what percentage of GDP, which is the size of the economy, that people are spending on defense.

00:12:10.000 Now, NATO says that in order for the alliance to be effective, in order for collective defense to actually work, well, everybody needs to have a military that's at least.

00:12:20.000 2% of GDP that constitutes at least 2% defense spending per year of GDP.

00:12:26.000 Well, there's only five countries that are meeting that obligation.

00:12:29.000 There's only five.

00:12:30.000 And I'll pull up the list here.

00:12:31.000 By the way, they all happen to be countries, with the exception of the UK, that would be most affected should Russia decide to get aggressive.

00:12:39.000 It's the US, Greece, Estonia, the UK, and Poland.

00:12:42.000 These are the only countries paying the requisite 2%.

00:12:46.000 And America, as he says in the video, is paying 4.2% by some calculations.

00:12:51.000 Most, it says, between 3.61 and 3.67 percent.

00:12:55.000 But by some estimations, you could say it's 4.2 percent.

00:12:59.000 And then you have countries like Germany, which are a major beneficiary.

00:13:02.000 We have 30,000 troops stationed there, and they were originally the tripwire, so to speak, of the alliance when the Soviet Union bordered the West along that East Germany West Germany line.

00:13:14.000 Germany spends 1.2 percent.

00:13:17.000 And he's right.

00:13:17.000 They say that, well, by 2030, we could increase to 1.5 percent.

00:13:21.000 Well, that's peanuts compared to what we're spending, compared to what they're supposed to be spending.

00:13:26.000 So, we're obviously getting ripped off here.

00:13:28.000 And of course, who is it that we're defending, right?

00:13:32.000 As if Russian aggression would affect us.

00:13:34.000 So, there's a righteous indignation here, totally justified. 0.99

00:13:39.000 People might say this is rude or, you know, this is whatever.

00:13:43.000 This is why we have a guy like Trump in the White House.

00:13:45.000 This is why it was necessary to have a guy like Trump in the White House. 1.00

00:13:49.000 You know, people like to say, well, we might like what he's doing, but he's, you know, he's a real jerk. 1.00

00:13:55.000 Or, well, I like what he's doing, but he's got to stay off Twitter. 0.99

00:13:58.000 You can't have it always.

00:13:59.000 You know, this is the guy we put into office, and at times there's excesses we're uncomfortable with, but this is what the country needs right now because this is a situation that's out of control.

00:14:09.000 So that's what he's talking about with the contributions.

00:14:12.000 The way that it works, and this is kind of a misconception, is not that people are contributing to NATO.

00:14:18.000 That does happen.

00:14:19.000 NATO does have a budget of something like $80 billion, and everybody meets their contributions in that regard for facilities and equipment and that kind of thing.

00:14:28.000 But when we're talking about the percentages, that's what percentage are.

00:14:32.000 These countries spending on their own military.

00:14:35.000 And that's for their own benefit, by the way.

00:14:37.000 That's not even like it's for NATO.

00:14:39.000 You know, I think maybe some people have it in their heads that it's like, well, you know, why would France spend money on NATO when France probably wouldn't be under the gun if Russia decided to get aggressive?

00:14:50.000 It would be the Baltic countries.

00:14:51.000 It might be the Balkan, Baltic or Balkan countries.

00:14:54.000 It might be Eastern Europe.

00:14:56.000 But it's not like they're contributing to NATO over there.

00:14:59.000 It's their own military.

00:15:00.000 It's for their own defense.

00:15:01.000 And we talked about this on the podcast as well yesterday.

00:15:04.000 The reason that Germany is able to have such a rich country, such a great social safety net, free education, great transportation system, they're able to bring in millions upon millions of refugees, or they think they can, is because they're not paying for a military.

00:15:20.000 If we didn't have to pay for our military, if we didn't have to pay for our defense, and you had foreign troops here defending us, could you imagine what we could do with that money for infrastructure, for education, for health care down the line?

00:15:35.000 So that's what we're talking about with the member state contributions.

00:15:38.000 None of them, really none of them, with the exception of a few, are paying their fair share.

00:15:43.000 And they're all increasing.

00:15:44.000 Since Trump got into office, they're all increasing their budgets.

00:15:47.000 This has been a complaint for 20 years.

00:15:49.000 Barack Obama, George W. Bush, they all had this complaint that member countries are not paying their fair share.

00:15:54.000 Trump is the only one to speak up about it.

00:15:57.000 And since he got into office, people are increasing their budgets.

00:16:00.000 Every single country in NATO has increased their defense spending, but none of them are increasing the budget enough to the point where it would be acceptable or where it would even make sense to have this alliance.

00:16:11.000 So then Trump goes on to say, and this, we'll get into this in a moment, he goes on to say, actually, not only should they meet the 2% requirement, but they should make it 4%.

00:16:20.000 Which is like outrageous.

00:16:22.000 And maybe this is a negotiating tactic.

00:16:24.000 That's the most likely scenario, which is to say you ask for 4%, maybe you get 2%.

00:16:30.000 You ask for 2%, you get 1.5%.

00:16:32.000 So if you ask for 4%, maybe you get somewhere in the middle, right?

00:16:35.000 I mean, that's kind of the negotiating tactic there, maybe.

00:16:38.000 But that was one of the demands.

00:16:40.000 There were some other things thrown in there as well, which haven't been talked about so much.

00:16:45.000 One thing you might have caught in there, which was kind of the main feature, is the pipeline he talks about in the video.

00:16:52.000 A Russian natural gas pipeline which supplies 60 to 70 percent of German energy.

00:16:59.000 And what he's referring to here is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which started to be constructed in 2005 or signed off on in 2005.

00:17:08.000 And this is a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

00:17:11.000 They already have one pipeline, which is massive.

00:17:14.000 And now they're building another pipeline.

00:17:16.000 Interestingly enough, this project started under Chancellor Schröder in Germany.

00:17:22.000 And get this.

00:17:23.000 This is beyond belief, okay?

00:17:25.000 Think about for a moment the narrative about Trump in Russia, what they say about Trump's relationship with Russia because of what?

00:17:33.000 Because of, oh, well, this person who knew Trump's advisor's best friend also knew Vladimir Putin's oligarch's nephews, you know, these outrageous connections.

00:17:47.000 And they say, well, that basically means that Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987, right?

00:17:53.000 Because Trump went to Moscow one time.

00:17:55.000 That's what they say.

00:17:57.000 Get this.

00:17:58.000 German Chancellor Schroeder in 2005, this is days after he's pushed out of office, he signs on to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, where they build this huge, like 1,300 mile underwater pipeline from Western Russia into Eastern Germany.

00:18:16.000 I think that's the geography, right?

00:18:19.000 So he signs off on it.

00:18:20.000 Schroeder leaves office.

00:18:21.000 He then goes on to oversee that same project as the shareholder, as the leader of the shareholder committee.

00:18:30.000 For the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

00:18:32.000 So he's the German chancellor.

00:18:34.000 That's the head of state there.

00:18:36.000 He signed, okay, we're going to do the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

00:18:39.000 This is after he gets elected or he gets pushed out of office.

00:18:42.000 It works a little different there.

00:18:43.000 He gets pushed out of office.

00:18:45.000 Then he goes on immediately after to oversee that project, working for Russia, overseeing the shareholders' committee that's overseeing this project.

00:18:54.000 He then goes on to be a major or majority shareholder in companies that are related to, or consortiums rather, related to Gazprom.

00:19:03.000 Which is one of Russia's biggest natural gas companies.

00:19:06.000 And then now he is the chairman of Rosneft, which is the number one Russian energy company.

00:19:12.000 Okay?

00:19:14.000 So Donald Trump goes to Moscow.

00:19:16.000 Oh, well, he must be colluding with the Russian government.

00:19:18.000 He's a Russian asset.

00:19:20.000 Trump goes to NATO and says, hey, nobody knows about this, but actually, the German chancellor signed on to a project that gives Russia enormous leverage over Germany.

00:19:30.000 I mean, understand this Russia supplies 70% of Germany's energy, okay, or their natural gas.

00:19:38.000 You think that gives them a little bit of leverage over Germany?

00:19:41.000 Russia has major natural gas pipelines into Ukraine.

00:19:45.000 And when they were undergoing their transition of government from Yanukovych to Poroshenko, from a pro Russian regime to a pro Western regime, Vladimir Putin cut off the gas and said, Well, we're not going to supply energy to Ukraine if this is going to happen.

00:20:00.000 That's a way that you exert power over another country.

00:20:02.000 So you already have these massive imports of Russian natural gas, Russian energy into Germany.

00:20:08.000 And energy is a hugely understated component of.

00:20:11.000 Statecraft.

00:20:13.000 They sign onto another pipeline.

00:20:14.000 Hey, let's make it more. 0.95

00:20:16.000 Let's make ourselves more dependent on Russia, which we're supposed to be protecting them from. 0.64

00:20:21.000 And the guy that signs it then goes to work for Russia, goes to work for their number one energy company as the chairman.

00:20:29.000 Nobody finds this fishy.

00:20:30.000 Nobody's talking about this.

00:20:31.000 This is supposedly, and remember the rhetoric we heard about Angela Merkel in Germany, right?

00:20:38.000 You know, after Trump got into office, they said, well, we look around the world, and the only leaders that are left remaining.

00:20:46.000 Of the liberal world order under Obama because what's his name?

00:20:51.000 Holland from France is gone, and Theresa May's in power now in the UK with the Brexit government, and you know, everybody else is going away, but Germany, Merkel is still in charge.

00:21:04.000 She is the leader of the free world.

00:21:05.000 Does anybody remember that rhetoric after the inauguration?

00:21:08.000 Merkel's the true leader of the free world.

00:21:11.000 So, I don't, do you understand why you might be a little bit confused?

00:21:15.000 Where our leaders in Russia's pocket because he visited Moscow, where he's got hotels.

00:21:20.000 Germany is literally under the thumb of Russia with their natural gas, with their energy.

00:21:26.000 Their former chancellor works for their energy company.

00:21:29.000 We've only heard about it today.

00:21:32.000 So that's the other thing.

00:21:33.000 And then, of course, we have to consider the grand paradox of it all.

00:21:38.000 I mean, you take these two things separately and, like, you have a problem with each of them, but then you understand the whole reason NATO exists, well, the whole reason NATO was founded was to counter the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, which was seen as this consolidation of.

00:21:54.000 Moscow's power in Eastern Europe, a huge potential threat to Western Europe.

00:21:58.000 So they said, let's build this defensive alliance.

00:22:00.000 Well, for some reason, after 1991, after the Soviet Union collapses, December 25th, 1991, it's Christmas, and officially the Soviet Union dissolves, Russia becomes the Russian Federation.

00:22:12.000 NATO not only doesn't go away, but it expands right up to Russia's border.

00:22:17.000 So we've got that going for us.

00:22:19.000 And the stated purpose of NATO is we have to protect, protect against Russian aggression. 0.51

00:22:26.000 Think of it. 0.65

00:22:27.000 Think of this.

00:22:29.000 Soviet Union goes away.

00:22:30.000 Russia is no longer a threat.

00:22:32.000 We have to expand the defensive alliance.

00:22:36.000 America's the number one superpower in the world.

00:22:38.000 The next is the UK.

00:22:40.000 The next is France.

00:22:40.000 The next is Germany.

00:22:41.000 The next is Italy.

00:22:42.000 Russia's like a third world country with a big military.

00:22:46.000 But the defensive alliance has to aggressively expand to many more countries over the course of 20 years as Russia is in turmoil.

00:22:55.000 In the 1990s, they consolidated under Putin.

00:22:58.000 But they're expanding rapidly right along the border.

00:23:01.000 They're talking about expanding NATO to Georgia, which is on their southern border, Ukraine, which is directly west of them, to the point where the so called defensive alliance would control the entire border.

00:23:13.000 Then we have the biggest military in Europe, or rather the most powerful country in Europe presently, continental, which is Germany. 0.69

00:23:23.000 And they're working for Russia.

00:23:25.000 They get all their energy from Russia.

00:23:27.000 How can you hold all these contradictions at the same time?

00:23:29.000 I'm having trouble holding them all at the same time.

00:23:32.000 Because it's outrageous.

00:23:34.000 We're expected to believe at once that we need NATO to protect against Russia.

00:23:39.000 When Donald Trump said that we need to disband NATO, it's useless in the 21st century.

00:23:44.000 We're supposed to believe that was outrageous.

00:23:46.000 Of course, we need NATO to defend against Russian aggression.

00:23:49.000 And the people we're supposed to defend are getting all their energy from Russia. 0.53

00:23:55.000 That's crazy. 0.91

00:23:55.000 Crazy. 0.91

00:23:56.000 That's insanity.

00:23:58.000 And then, you know, this is the big topic, which we have to get into about NATO in general.

00:24:02.000 So Trump's right on the money here.

00:24:04.000 And it's a beautiful thing that he's able to.

00:24:06.000 To assert American interests bluntly and honestly and in a way that expresses the righteous indignation that we feel as a nation.

00:24:17.000 We don't want to send a leader to Germany to say, oh, hey, guys, this isn't fair.

00:24:22.000 You know, we're getting ripped off like crazy.

00:24:24.000 There's potholes everywhere.

00:24:26.000 Our bridges are collapsing.

00:24:27.000 We can't have health care.

00:24:30.000 We can't have anything in the country anymore.

00:24:32.000 But we're paying all this money to defend these people.

00:24:35.000 We don't want to send a leader to say, hey, um, Can we please be more considerate?

00:24:40.000 You know, no, we need somebody to go in there and deliver the gut punches as Trump did.

00:24:45.000 So, very good stuff there.

00:24:46.000 But, I mean, beyond that, which it's outrageous when you look at this stuff, and you didn't even mention this in the video.

00:24:53.000 There's the member state problem where they're not paying their fair share.

00:24:57.000 We're supposed to be protecting these people and they get their energy from Russia.

00:25:00.000 And then, on top of all of that, forget about NATO even for one second.

00:25:04.000 Can we go back to the G7 summit a couple of weeks ago?

00:25:08.000 The European Union is ripping us off on trade to the tune of $150 billion.

00:25:13.000 So it's not enough that we're protecting these people.

00:25:17.000 We're footing the bill for their defense.

00:25:19.000 We're providing the truth for their defense.

00:25:22.000 In the meantime, they don't spend any money on it.

00:25:25.000 And actually, they slap us in the face.

00:25:26.000 They go and become more dependent on the people we're protecting them from.

00:25:30.000 On top of all of that, then they put up these massive trade barriers so that we have to, they effectively extort us.

00:25:38.000 And that's how tariffs work.

00:25:40.000 You know, people think, oh, $150 billion trade deficit.

00:25:43.000 When I was a libertarian, I thought trade deficits don't matter.

00:25:46.000 They don't mean anything.

00:25:47.000 It's just an accounting figure.

00:25:50.000 You know, oh, well, it's $150 billion trade deficit.

00:25:53.000 Well, we're getting $150 billion worth of goods, so who cares?

00:25:56.000 I think that's how a lot of people think of it.

00:25:59.000 That's completely incorrect.

00:26:01.000 By the way, Milton Friedman, very smart guy, but he has done irreparable harm to the American public discourse by telling people, lying to people, That deficits don't matter.

00:26:13.000 Because I remember I watched the free to choose lecture series, I read the book.

00:26:17.000 Trade deficits don't matter.

00:26:18.000 It's all, who cares?

00:26:20.000 The important thing is that we have free and open markets.

00:26:23.000 Okay, but then you think about it for five seconds, okay?

00:26:28.000 Think about it.

00:26:29.000 If we have a $150 billion trade deficit with Germany, or rather with the European Union, what does that mean?

00:26:36.000 It means that the European Union exports $150 billion worth of goods more than we export to them.

00:26:45.000 So let's say we send them, and I'm using hypothetical figures.

00:26:50.000 Let's say we send them $500 billion worth of stuff.

00:26:54.000 And that's software, that's airplanes, whatever it is.

00:26:58.000 We're sending them $500 billion, and this is not obviously the volume of trade, but we're sending them $500 billion worth of goods.

00:27:04.000 And they're sending us back $650 billion worth of goods.

00:27:08.000 Now think about that for a moment.

00:27:10.000 If we're sending them this much and they're sending us this much, do you think we're just getting the difference for free?

00:27:17.000 Do you think the $150 billion that we're getting more in terms of goods than we're sending them?

00:27:25.000 Do you think, oh, well, we just get free stuff.

00:27:27.000 We send them this much and then we get more.

00:27:30.000 We get free, oh, so much free stuff.

00:27:33.000 Of course not.

00:27:34.000 You don't get anything for free.

00:27:35.000 Why would any country do that?

00:27:37.000 Why would any country want to trade surplus if that was the case?

00:27:40.000 If it was just simply that you can give a little bit and get a lot, you know, who wouldn't do that?

00:27:45.000 It'd be like if you went to 7 Eleven and you gave them $5 and they gave you a $10 gift card to Amazon. 0.99

00:27:51.000 Like, it's just, it would be stupid.

00:27:53.000 But of course, in order to compensate for that $150 billion deficit, we have to give them that much in assets, debt, money. 0.91

00:28:02.000 I talk about it all the time.

00:28:04.000 We have to lay it on thick because the free trade myth is incredible how many people buy into it.

00:28:10.000 But we're not getting that $150 billion worth of stuff for free.

00:28:14.000 We have to pay for it.

00:28:15.000 And we have to pay for it in ways that hurt our economy.

00:28:18.000 Because in exchange for consumer goods, which is to say that on a yearly basis, we get consumables, and this could be raw materials, for example, steel from Germany, it could be manufactured goods, whatever it may be, we're getting things that we're consuming now.

00:28:32.000 And what do we give them in exchange?

00:28:34.000 Long term.

00:28:35.000 Investments, financial capital.

00:28:38.000 You know, think about that.

00:28:39.000 We're giving them, in exchange for, let's say, steel, which we use, we consume, whether that's for appliances, whether that's for vehicles, infrastructure, which we consume now, we're giving them real estate, which is a big investment.

00:28:54.000 We're giving them assets, companies, stocks.

00:28:57.000 I mean, these are things that are long term.

00:28:59.000 We're giving them debt.

00:29:00.000 So, what do they get for the debt?

00:29:02.000 Not only do they get interest payments all the time, but then they get the principal and they get our currency, which means they can control.

00:29:09.000 The exchange rate and all the rest.

00:29:12.000 So, this would be to give you another real world analogy.

00:29:15.000 The free traders like to say, Oh, well, you have a trade deficit with your grocery store.

00:29:19.000 Is that a problem?

00:29:20.000 Yeah, it would be a problem if, for example, you were to go to the grocery store and say, Oh, I'd like a bag of apples, a box of cereal, and a gallon of milk.

00:29:30.000 And in exchange, I will just start slowly selling you my house.

00:29:36.000 Like after a year of grocery purchases, you no longer have a home.

00:29:40.000 And you don't have any savings, and you mortgage your car to Jules Osco.

00:29:44.000 In order to pay for the food you eat every day, you're giving them all your wealth.

00:29:49.000 And that's the difference.

00:29:51.000 So, on top of all, you know, they're not paying their fair share.

00:29:54.000 We're protecting them from a country that, like, apparently they don't have that big of a problem with if they're completely dependent on them for their energy.

00:30:01.000 And then on top of that, forget NATO for a second.

00:30:04.000 Then they're ripping us off.

00:30:05.000 And they get mad.

00:30:07.000 We're like, can we stop getting ripped off?

00:30:11.000 And you see the outrage that this generates in Europe, where, oh, America is so out of line. 1.00

00:30:17.000 They're jerks. 1.00

00:30:18.000 They're so. 1.00

00:30:19.000 The way that they demand that they get treated fairly on trade, where, you know, there's some kind of reciprocity. 1.00

00:30:25.000 Donald Trump is a jerk, right? 0.99

00:30:28.000 So, I mean, these people are absent. 1.00

00:30:30.000 They're like spoiled brats.

00:30:31.000 And so this has to happen.

00:30:32.000 But, I mean, I think the bigger conversation about NATO, which has to be discussed, and I hinted at it a moment ago, is this.

00:30:40.000 And I'm going to pull it up here on the other screen.

00:30:43.000 This is really what you have to think about when you talk about NATO.

00:30:47.000 The purpose of NATO is to defend against Russia.

00:30:52.000 We'll take a look at this little map here.

00:30:55.000 So, over here, you've got NATO countries that have existed since the foundation of NATO.

00:31:01.000 You've got Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK.

00:31:05.000 These are just the light blue countries.

00:31:08.000 Then you see outlined in black, these are all the countries that joined NATO after the Soviet Union collapsed.

00:31:16.000 Okay, that's after 1991.

00:31:18.000 You've got East Germany, you've got Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, you've got Slovakia, Chechnya, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria.

00:31:27.000 They're talking about, they added Montenegro.

00:31:30.000 They added Croatia.

00:31:31.000 They're talking about adding Macedonia, possibly Georgia, Ukraine.

00:31:35.000 Okay, who's the defensive one in this case?

00:31:37.000 And look, I'm no Russia apologist. 0.55

00:31:40.000 I don't think Russia is all that beneficial for our interests.

00:31:43.000 I don't have any illusions about Russia being that great of a country or anything like that.

00:31:49.000 I'm highly skeptical of them.

00:31:51.000 But I mean, really, let's look at what's going on here.

00:31:54.000 Can anybody say, can anybody look at this map?

00:31:57.000 Who is the one that's expanding their borders?

00:31:59.000 Who is the one that's expanding their reach and their influence?

00:32:03.000 Could you imagine if the map worked in a different direction?

00:32:07.000 If Russia took over Germany and then Italy and then France and then Spain?

00:32:10.000 Could anybody imagine?

00:32:12.000 Or could anybody imagine if Russia took over Belarus and then took over Ukraine and then all these other countries that are not aligned?

00:32:19.000 Finland, Sweden.

00:32:22.000 We would be saying Russia is showing us unprecedented aggression and it has to be met with force.

00:32:29.000 You know, John McCain, Lindsey Graham would be out there.

00:32:33.000 Galvanizing the public for war.

00:32:35.000 I mean, really, who's the aggressor in this situation?

00:32:38.000 And we're paying all this money to have 30,000 troops in Germany and 17,000 troops in Italy, and we're building up a presence in Poland, and we've got them all over the place. 0.53

00:32:47.000 Time to bring the troops home, folks. 0.82

00:32:49.000 Russia is not the threat that it once was. 0.80

00:32:53.000 That's not to say it's not a threat, but it's not the threat that it once was.

00:32:56.000 This arrangement can no longer work for anybody.

00:33:00.000 You really think Russia is going to invade?

00:33:03.000 Pay for your own military then.

00:33:05.000 Stop taking gas from them, right?

00:33:09.000 And really, anyway, are we supposed to say that we would go to war for Estonia?

00:33:14.000 Really?

00:33:15.000 I mean, think about that for a minute.

00:33:17.000 Under Article 5 of NATO, America is required, if Russia attacks Estonia, we're required to go to war against Russia.

00:33:25.000 Would anybody think who would do that?

00:33:29.000 You know, I'm over here, I'm doing the America First show.

00:33:31.000 I love what I do.

00:33:32.000 I get to talk to my friends.

00:33:33.000 I play Fortnite.

00:33:34.000 I play Minecraft.

00:33:36.000 Eat Burger King.

00:33:38.000 I have a great life.

00:33:40.000 I'm going to now suddenly pack up all my stuff, volunteer for the military, and go fight Russia because they invaded Estonia?

00:33:49.000 Why?

00:33:50.000 Why would anybody do that?

00:33:52.000 Estonia has been a part of Russia forever.

00:33:55.000 You go back to the Russian Empire, you go back to any time in history over the last 600 years or so, and Estonia has been a part of Russia.

00:34:06.000 Many of them are ethnically Russian, many of them speak Russian. 0.79

00:34:10.000 But if Russia wants to do a land grab in Estonia, we're going to pretend that we'd be okay with sending people over there to die in Russia. 0.84

00:34:16.000 We would risk a nuclear war with Russia, really? 0.61

00:34:20.000 And the same is true with Ukraine. 0.93

00:34:21.000 People talking about bringing Ukraine into the fold.

00:34:24.000 Russia's got a naval base in Crimea.

00:34:27.000 Crimea has historically been a part of Russia.

00:34:30.000 It's like 100% ethnic Russians, 100% Russian speaking.

00:34:33.000 The same is true of Luhansk and Donetsk.

00:34:36.000 And by the way, this is pursuant to their interests.

00:34:40.000 Geopolitically, in securing their country, what you have in Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Ukraine is something called the Northern European Plain.

00:34:53.000 And this is like what they call the superhighway of empires or of invasions, where because there are no natural land barriers in the northern part of Europe from Germany to Russia, it makes it so that you could very easily overwhelm Russia or vice versa with a surprise. 0.74

00:35:10.000 First strike invasion.

00:35:12.000 This has happened three times in history.

00:35:13.000 You had Napoleon come from France into Russia through this northern European plain because there's no mountains, deserts, or big rivers to stop them. 0.64

00:35:22.000 You've had Kaiser Wilhelm II do it in World War I, and you had Hitler do it in World War II. 0.76

00:35:28.000 So Russia has no buffer states. 0.82

00:35:30.000 They have no way to protect against this onslaught that could come from the Western countries.

00:35:36.000 And we're going to pretend like, oh, yeah, we would like to go and fight and die in Ukraine because Russia wants a reasonable sphere of influence. 0.57

00:35:44.000 Like, I don't think you have to be a Russophile to say, hey, maybe it's reasonable that Ukraine is at least in their sphere of influence in the same way that, you know, All of the Western Hemisphere is in our sphere of influence.

00:35:57.000 So, I mean, that's okay.

00:35:59.000 I mean, that's the elephant in the room with NATO generally.

00:36:01.000 You look at the map, and it's insanity how this has been allowed to go on for like 30 years.

00:36:07.000 And nobody stops and says, hey, there's something wrong with this, maybe.

00:36:12.000 And for so many reasons.

00:36:15.000 So, that's NATO.

00:36:16.000 President Trump will be there until Thursday, I believe.

00:36:21.000 And then he departs, Brussels, Belgium.

00:36:24.000 To go to the United Kingdom.

00:36:25.000 He'll land in London.

00:36:26.000 He'll meet Prime Minister Theresa May.

00:36:28.000 He'll speak with the Queen of England.

00:36:30.000 That'll be on Friday.

00:36:32.000 Then he'll be off to Scotland for the weekend.

00:36:34.000 And then he will go to Helsinki, Finland to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

00:36:40.000 And that'll be interesting.

00:36:41.000 That'll be on Monday.

00:36:42.000 So lots to cover there.

00:36:44.000 We'll be keeping an eye on the foreign trip.

00:36:45.000 At the same time, the Asia trip is happening.

00:36:47.000 Nobody's talking about that.

00:36:49.000 Secretary of State Pompeo's been to North Korea, Vietnam, Japan made a surprise trip to Afghanistan.

00:36:55.000 He's then going to the United Arab Emirates and then to Belgium.

00:36:59.000 And you can listen to America First World Report.

00:37:02.000 I covered extensively Trump's European trip in great detail, and I also covered Pompeo's Asia trip in great detail.

00:37:11.000 And there's a lot of overlap between the two.

00:37:13.000 And I analyzed all the deals that could happen, all the intricacies, how they relate to each other, what's going on with this oil war, with Saudi Arabia being asked to raise production because of sanctions on Iran.

00:37:25.000 I mean, really interesting connections.

00:37:27.000 That's on America First World Report.

00:37:29.000 You only get that if you're an America First Premium member.

00:37:32.000 So be sure to check out NicholasJFluentis.com slash membership to sign up.

00:37:36.000 Five bucks a month.

00:37:37.000 You get that extra content.

00:37:38.000 For our big brain people, it's essential.

00:37:40.000 But enough of the plug.

00:37:43.000 Do we go to the Super Chats or do we go to China?

00:37:43.000 I don't know.

00:37:47.000 Or do we go to Madalino?

00:37:49.000 Maybe we'll talk about China another day.

00:37:49.000 I don't know.

00:37:51.000 Maybe we'll save it for tomorrow.

00:37:53.000 But on a lighter note, it's kind of been an angry, it's been an angsty show.

00:37:57.000 Maybe that's because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I'm a little.

00:38:01.000 Irritable.

00:38:02.000 But I got to show you this video, okay?

00:38:04.000 I mean, this is really.

00:38:06.000 It's just funny to me.

00:38:07.000 It's kind of hilarious to me.

00:38:10.000 And we've seen this character before.

00:38:12.000 This is.

00:38:13.000 And I don't know.

00:38:14.000 Should I do the full screen with the video or should I put it next to me?

00:38:17.000 I'll do the full screen and I'll react to it live.

00:38:20.000 This just cracks me up.

00:38:21.000 This has got nothing to do with the news.

00:38:23.000 I don't even think it is new, really, right?

00:38:25.000 I mean, let me see if I can pull it up on Chrome real quick.

00:38:30.000 Oh, wow.

00:38:30.000 This is from a year ago.

00:38:32.000 Oh, wow.

00:38:32.000 Maybe I shouldn't react to it then.

00:38:33.000 It's not very timely, right?

00:38:36.000 But it is funny.

00:38:38.000 Somebody sent it to me.

00:38:39.000 I guess I'll watch it anyway because I really just get a kick out of it.

00:38:43.000 And, you know, look, I don't mean to go too hard on this issue because, you know, some people's a little overkill, but to me, this stuff is just hilarious.

00:38:51.000 So we're going to watch this one real quick and then I'll get to your Streamlabs and Super Chats.

00:38:56.000 But just watch.

00:38:57.000 So it's this guy, Rich Madalino. 0.88

00:39:00.000 He's this gay guy who's running for governor in Maryland.

00:39:04.000 And he's sitting here, he's doing this mean tweets video, which is based off the Jimmy Kimmel segment. 0.74

00:39:09.000 Where they say, oh, we're reading mean tweets.

00:39:12.000 And the purpose of the segment is that the tweets are supposed to be funny.

00:39:18.000 It's supposed to be like humorous because, you know, the tweets are like a really good roast.

00:39:23.000 They're like a really good burn.

00:39:25.000 And it's funny when people read a funny burn that's like maybe silly or obnoxious or over the top.

00:39:33.000 And then they're like, wow, like that's a little extreme.

00:39:36.000 But they don't, in this video, they don't really get that concept because this guy just reads very clinical, very direct, precise attacks on his entire.

00:39:47.000 And they both sit there very hurt and they just kind of take it.

00:39:51.000 It's pretty funny to me.

00:39:53.000 So we're going to watch this and then we'll get to the Streamlabs and Super Chats. 0.99

00:39:56.000 I'll have to save China for tomorrow because we just don't have the time for it. 0.88

00:40:00.000 But here, I'll pull it up.

00:40:02.000 I'll play the audio.

00:40:02.000 This time I'll add a little commentary as well.

America First - Nicholas J. Fuentes - July 11, 2018

The NATO Racket | America First Ep. 198

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