Why pulling US troops out of Germany goes beyond 'punishing' their leader | Simon Marks

It's 11 .48, you are listening to James O 'Brien on LBC where we turn our attention next to events on the other side of the Atlantic.I dread these moments in one sense and in another sense I look forward to them almost more than any other moments on the show because there's every possibility, particularly when we've been conducting a conversation that demands the highest levels of concentration and resistance of any distraction from me, There's always a chance that when I come to say to Simon Marks, what's up, Simon, he's going to drop something on me that I'm previously unaware of, such as the nature of Donald Trump's administration.What's up, Simon?

Well, there is a bit of breaking news that is up, James, as we come on air.The Supreme Leader in Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, has issued a statement saying the only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is at the bottom of its waters.That's the first thing we've heard from the Supreme Leader in several days.There is, of course, continuing uncertainty about the nature of the injuries that he received during the early attacks on Iran.that also killed his father, the former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and other members of the new Supreme Leader's family.But this comes 24 hours after President Trump told a reporter from the website Axios that he is considering resuming attacks on Iran in a bid to try and force them back to the negotiating table.

because that strategy has worked so well over the course of the last eight weeks.But that's where things currently stand on Iran.The other thing, of course, that is up is the sudden social media posting by the president last night.And let me remind everyone, the king and the queen are still here.They are due to be returning to the White House this morning to bid a formal farewell to the president and the first lady.But even while they are here, even while the king's very carefully

well -crafted and rebuke to President Trump and everything that he stands for in that speech to Congress is still echoing through the halls on Capitol Hill.President Trump last night announced the United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of troops in Germany with a determination to be made over the next short period of time.That is because while the King and the Queen have been here and our focus has been on the nature of our bilateral relationship with the United It's just true.United States to find an off -ramp to this conflict.And that, of course, is now leading directly to the president threatening to reduce the size of the American troop force.There are 36 ,000 American troops stationed in Germany, six separate garrisons, 40 separate military installations, including, of course, the Ramstein Air Base and the Coordinating Strategic Command Center in Wiesbaden.

exactly the kind of move you would be taking, not only if you wanted to punish the German Chancellor, but if you wanted to begin the process of withdrawing from NATO.And of course, parenthetically, you wanted to deliver a massive win for Russian President Vladimir Putin.This, the reduction of forces from Germany, is exactly the kind of action you would be contemplating.again hours after the King made his speech on Capitol Hill saying NATO Article 5, the only time it's ever been invoked, was when America was attacked by 9 -11.So let's stop all the nonsense with NATO wasn't there for us.The King actually is reminding the American people and the lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill that NATO absolutely was there for the United States on 9 -11 and is still there for the United States if the US needs European support.

All of that I think, about to be eviscerated by this president.

Well, until he changes his mind and says that Mertz loves him and he's given him a biscuit and they're best friends and, you know, or doesn't.I mean, who knows?You stole a moment of theatre from me there, Simon.I may never forgive you.I was going to suggest that we all be quiet and just listen to the sound of cackling emanating from the Kremlin, because that is pretty much the only thing you can say about most of this with any certainty.And he has, I mean you probably are too professional to say this, but he's been lying about King Charles as we predicted he would do, particularly with regard to Iran, or claiming at least.

Yes, on two separate occasions, possibly three since the King arrived, I think certainly two, including in the Oval Office yesterday, the President insisted that if King Charles were the political leader of the UK rather than simply its head of state, he's a fantastic person and the President absolutely believes that Britain would have been there for the United States, shoulder to shoulder, fighting in Iran.So he's sort of suggesting that the King took a position in talks with him at the White House that I think we need to be extremely skeptical about but also James he reverted tonight to a fresh attack on the Prime Minister.So listen to what happened yesterday in the Oval Office when the President was asked by a reporter whether his apparently fantastic, as the President describes them, conversations with the King had led him to re -evaluate his antipathy towards Sakhir Starmer.

It was extraordinary.I mean, he's an extraordinary man.He's an extraordinary person.And, yeah, it helps from the standpoint that, you know, when you like the king of a country so much, it probably helps your relationship with the prime minister.But, you know, in that case, the prime minister, I said, do you want to send a little help?He said, no, we'll send it after you win the war.

I said, that's not good.That's not good.

We all take a fantastic journey in that answer because it sounds like he's about to say that his relationship with the king has changed his view of the prime minister.But then, of course, we discover that he veers straight back down the path that he's taken so many times before of grousing about what the prime minister clearly never said to him.The prime minister never said to President Trump, we'll come and join you after you've won the war.So I think that that is the clearest indication we've had yet.that the second the royal couple depart American airspace later today, heading off to Bermuda before they return to the UK, well, even before they depart American airspace, we are reverting to type.And those carefully crafted messages that were delivered on Capitol Hill are simply not being received, accepted, or acted upon in any way by this government.

And it's almost as if Donald Trump didn't appreciate the subtlety and nuance of King Charles's speech.Perish the thought.Jimmy Kimmel's in the firing line again.This is a comedian who made a joke.but the impacts and the ramifications of that go far beyond late -night television.

Yeah, Jimmy Kimmel, who made, I think it's fair to say, a pretty awful joke about Melania Trump looking like an expectant widow, not least because he kind of manufactured images of Melania and Barron Trump in his own studio.Of course, they weren't there.This was broadcast before last Saturday's attempted attack on the Washington Hilton Hotel, where in the basement, far away from where the attempted attack occurred, the president and lawmakers and journalists were yucking it up at the White House Correspondents Association dinner before it was scrubbed.Now Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission chief, seeing the fury of Melania Trump and Donald Trump demanding Jimmy Kimmel's head for his monologue, are threatening ABC stations across the country that are owned and operated by ABC with license revocation.They're engaging in a review of their diversity and inclusivity policies that could lead to license revocation.I mean this is the kind of stuff that happens you know in in tin pot dictatorships.

It is underway now because the president of the United States who last Saturday at that dinner was supposed to be celebrating the First Amendment guaranteeing free speech, takes objection to a joke made by a late night comic.

And I think important to remember at almost every stage of this saga that when Robert Mueller died, the former head of the FBI and a decorated war hero, Donald Trump stated, I'm glad he's dead.That's the level of, I don't know, concern, if you like, that he has demonstrated for other people's feelings, historically.Thank you, Simon.Hopefully catch up again tomorrow, but depends on what happens, doesn't it?