President Joe Biden is in Canada for the day, a quick 90-minute hop from Joint Base Andrews to Ottawa (One of the world’s most beautiful cities… in July). Having watched the press conference, I can say that Biden gave a speech on Parliament Hill that brought the house down. Biden noted that the United States is going back to the moon in 2025-26. The astronauts have already been picked; it won’t just be the United States going to the moon. It will be the United States and Canada. Of the four astronauts on the first trip, one is Canadian. Biden asked Canada, “Can we as a society still do big things? Hell, yes, we can!” Standing ovation, the longest of many.

They also talked about climate change, keeping the Great Lakes clean, immigration, fentanyl, and, among other things, they talked about NATO, joint defense, and the need to protect democracy in Ukraine. That last one got Trump upset enough that he forgot for a second that he wants to brain Alvin Bragg with a baseball bat (Trump put out a picture today of him holding a baseball bat with a picture of Alvin Bragg next to it on the day Bragg got a death threat), and, instead, Trump took to Truth Social to talk about the fact that NATO wouldn’t be there (according to Trump), if Trump didn’t make every nation pay what they owed.

Does Joe Biden understand that the reason NATO exists, loaded up with CASH, is because President Donald J. Trump insisted that “delinquent” Nations, of which there were many, carry their own weight and pay their fair share. If not, I insisted, we WILL NOT PROTECT THEM FROM THE “EVIL EMPIRE.” THE MONEY CAME POURING IN AFTER DECADES OF NONPAYMENT & ABUSE. I HAVEN’T HEARD JOE SAY, “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR THE GREAT JOB YOU DID.” Perhaps I’m just not listening!

As Canadian Alex Trebek once would say, “No, Sooory, that is incorrect. (Bless Trebek’s gentle soul).

NATO thrived for a long time, even with nations falling behind in dues. It thrived through the Obama administration. The United States did not push the money issue because falling behind in dues made many of those nations even more deferential to the United States. It became a valuable tool to “get what we wanted,” over having things more evenly decided.

Notice that Trump puts the words Evil Empire in quotes? Trump wasn’t going to use the American military to protect any of those Eastern European companies if attacked by Russia. Trump was so pro-Russia and anti-NATO that every NATO nation knew it. It took Biden’s experience and trustworthiness to rally NATO behind Ukraine, something else you’ll note that Trump doesn’t share with NATO.

You just know that Trump SO badly misses being on the world stage! He wants to be the one speaking to Parliament, doing important international press conferences, and traveling the world in Air Force One, even if he would never be invited. Melania could go shop in downtown Toronto and hope to meet Trudeau at a talk, but Trump would never be invited.

Trump, a Putin protege-puppet, hates everything about NATO. It’s ironic that Trump – famous for not paying his bills, takes credit for getting “everyone to pay their share – and, while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does take away a little of the outsized American influence. But Trump wants Biden to thank him, even though we wouldn’t even be in NATO if Trump was president.

How odd.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak SUBSTACK: SMITH MAY BRING EARLY INDICTMENTS: LIGHTNING FAST APPEAL IS A TELL