“Trump is a living black hole!” -- Tony Schwartz

[reedak]

1. About 33 years ago, a young Asian minister ridiculed the US as a "cheapskate" after discovering a US diplomat giving a treat to a local dissident at a fast food restaurant. At that time, that country was accusing the US of meddling in its domestic affairs.

Under the Trump Presidency, this "cheapskate" image of the US is more conspicuous than ever.

1(a) In December of 1987, a month after his book was published, Trump hosted an extravagant book party in the pink marble atrium of Trump Tower.

According to Jane Mayer (Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016 ... -tells-all ), when Tony Schwartz and Trump spoke on the phone next day, "Trump informed Schwartz that, as his ghostwriter, he owed him for half the event’s cost, which was in the six figures. Schwartz was dumbfounded. 'He wanted me to split the cost of entertaining his list of nine hundred second-rate celebrities?' "

1(b) According to Leonid Bershidsky (Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles ... protection ), Trump wants Allies to pay for protection.

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...In Trump’s vision, the U.S. is a global enforcer who will only protect those who pay for it.

Trump’s July 4 tweet demanding that the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries lower the oil price because “the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s” shows that this isn’t just about NATO. Trump’s U.S. doesn’t have allies or even vassals. It has paying customers for its security business, the way the principality of Hesse did in the 18th century, when it rented out its oversized professional army to Sweden, Britain, Bavaria and pretty much anyone who could pay for it....

“We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military,” he tweeted last year. “Very bad for U.S. This will change.” Germany, in other words, should pay for U.S. protection by reducing its trade surplus. The OPEC tweet sets up a similar relationship between security and an economic outcome that Trump thinks would benefit the U.S. — a reduction in oil prices.... (End excerpts)