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Trump effect forces Germany to reprioritize defense as nation plays catch-up in military spending
President Donald Trump’s continued criticism of Germany’s failure to pay its defense bills looks to have pushed one of Europe’s wealthiest nations into action.
The president’s criticism of Berlin has compelled Germany to increase funding for its military forces and infrastructure, which critics say are in a bad state of affairs.
Richard Grenell, U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital «multiple German leaders ignored the warnings from President Trump that Russia was using energy as a weapon against them.
US BRISTLES AT GERMANY’S DEFENSE BUDGET PLANS AFTER IT FALLS SHORT
«The war in Ukraine and the invasion of Putin showed the new German leadership that Donald Trump was absolutely right about Germany feeding the beast that ultimately turned on them,» he added.
Trump appointed Grenell as presidential envoy for «special missions» in December.
During his first term, President Donald Trump waits to greet Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 17, 2017. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In 2018, Trump rebuked Germany’s addiction to Russian gas, according to observers of German-U.S. relations. He told the U.N. General Assembly that «Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course. Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers.»
During his remarks, the camera panned to Germany’s delegation to the U.N. in 2018, including its then-U.N. Ambassador, Christoph Heusgen, and former Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who all seemingly laughed and smiled at Trump.
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However, those smirks soon turned into raw anxiety, when four years later, in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and Germany scrambled for a way to wean itself off Russian gas to avoid helping reward Putin.
Matthew Kroenig, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, told Fox News Digital, «Every U.S. presidential administration since Eisenhower has complained about European free riding, but asking «pretty please» has not worked. Trump’s tough rhetoric is achieving results that eluded his predecessors.
«The Trump effect is in part due to Trump raising NATO burden sharing to the very top of the transatlantic security agenda and in part due to genuine fears that Washington could abandon NATO and Europe would need to fend for itself.»
Soldiers from the German Armed Forces honorary guard are pictured during a reception with military honors Nov. 4, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. (Getty Images)
After Trump and Grenell helped to cajole the Germans out of their security slumber, Berllin reached the NATO goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product spending in 2024. This was the first time Berlin reached 2% since 1991, the end of the Cold War.
Trump, however, called for Germany to spend 5% on defense because, he argues, the U.S. is contributing significant resources to protect the central European country.
The frustration with Germany and other European allies was captured in text messages reported between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.
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«I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC,» Hegseth said in response to Vance, who questioned U.S. leadership in advancing security policies in the Red Sea to counter Houthi aggression and reopen shipping lanes.
Germany’s export trade greatly benefits from free navigation in the Middle East, but it refuses to aid the U.S. in stopping the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement via military strikes. Europe and Germany are unwilling to follow Trump’s lead and sanction the Houthis as a terrorist entity.
Friedrich Merz, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union and a chancellor candidate, during a press conference after the federal election Feb. 24, 2025, in Berlin, Germany. (Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images)
The so-called Trump Effect has also affected the German parliament’s decision to relax restrictions on debt so it can pump funds into its military superstructure.
The likely new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party, said he would do «whatever it takes» to rebuild Germany’s frail military. Berlin’s mainstream parties aim to invest hundreds of billions of euros in defense and infrastructure. Germany’s armed forces (Bundeswehr) are, according to reports, in a state of disarray, with a mere 181,174 soldiers at the end of last year. Germany’s Defense Ministry seeks to expand its armed forces to 203,000 by 2031.
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Recruitment remains an ongoing challenge within a population raised on pacifism. After Germany started two World Wars in the last century, Germany’s power politics stressed the role of multilateral institutions like the U.N. and diplomacy in remedying conflicts.
Conscripted armored infantrymen stand at attention while dressed in their camouflage uniforms during an exercise as part of the basic training of the German Bundeswehr on the premises of the Knuell Barracks in Schwarzenborn, Germany, in April 2005. (Frank May/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
The Associated Press recently reported that Germany’s parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Eva Högl, said, «The biggest problem is boredom. She added «If young people have nothing to do, if there isn’t enough equipment and there aren’t enough trainers, if the rooms aren’t reasonably clean and orderly, that deters people, and it makes the Bundeswehr unattractive.»
In an interview earlier this month with German news outlet WELT, the German historian Michael Wolffsohn, who taught at the Bundeswehr University Munich, said of Germany and Western Europe’s failure over the decades to address its severe defense deficits, «Now we get the receipt for everything we neglected.»
Fox News Digital sent a detailed press query to the German Foreign Ministry about Trump’s criticism that Berlin has chronically underinvested in defense and remained wedded to Putin’s gas supply after his warnings.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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Social media erupts after DNC speaker says migrant crime, carjackings ‘don’t matter’ to many Americans
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Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships of the far-left criminal justice reform group, Vera Institute of Justice, caused an uproar on social media after she told Democrats on Monday that migrant crime and carjackings «don’t matter to that many Americans.»
During a political strategy session about crime and safety at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rahman urged Democrats to seize on President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown, calling it a «political liability.»
«Trump is not about safety,» Rahman said. «This is a political power grab, and he will do it however he can, whether that’s at the ballot box or taking over our cities.»
While Rahman focused her remarks on how Democrats can reject Republicans’ «tough on crime scare tactics,» the Vera Institute, where the Democratic strategist serves as a senior official, has a long record of supporting defunding the police.
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With the dome of the U.S. Capitol in the background, members of the DC National Guard keep watch outside Union Station on Aug. 19, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters)
«We must dismantle the current culture of policing in the United States,» the Vera Institute said in a 2020 statement during the anti-police protests that erupted across the country after George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a White police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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The liberal criminal justice think tank went on to affirm their support for «the outrage we’re seeing,» and announced they were «building on this unique moment of public awareness, outrage, and calls to defund the police.»
Fox News Digital has covered the Vera Institute for years, including its ties to former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department and billionaire liberal megadonor George Soros.
The Vera Institute has advocated for defunding the police and has openly stated their mission is to demolish a «racist» criminal justice system.
A woman waves an upside-down American flag as people gather at Black Lives Matter protest on Nov. 5, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital discovered in 2022 that the non-profit secured a staggering $171.7 million federal contract to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied minors, according to a federal database.
«Don’t take the bait in talking about migrant crime or carjackings or the things that actually don’t matter to that many Americans, and then go to the policy proposals that we think work,» Rahman instructed Democrats on Monday.
This clip went viral Monday afternoon with conservatives slamming Rahman for her rhetoric and pointing out her organization’s ties to the Defund the Police movement.
«Who has given money to the George Soros-tied Vera Institute?» conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. «The Biden DOJ, the Open Society Foundations, Rockefeller, Tides, the Ford Foundation and MacKenzie Scott. Vera Institute in turn supports BLM and numerous left wing causes. FOLLOW THE MONEY!»
«This Democrat Speaker is a member of the Vera Institute of Justice which advocates for defunding the police,» the Republican National Committee’s research account posted on X.
«She makes over $300k in salary according to last year’s tax filings, and the Vera Institute brought in around $140 million in revenue,» the Project for Immigration Reform posted on X.
Trump last week floated the deployment of federal law enforcement to address major U.S. cities, including Chicago, after mobilizing more than 2,200 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., to fight a «crime emergency.»
A Metropolitan Police Department police cruiser blocks a street leading to the White House on Nov. 3, 2020. (iStock)
The president signed an executive order on Monday, seeking to eliminate cashless bail for suspects arrested in the nation’s capital.
Rahman said Democrats should respond by saying, «They want money and privilege and to give a handout to the bail bondsman while we want to make sure safety, not wealth, determines who stays in jail and who goes home to their families.»
She also advised Democrats not to let Trump «take credit» for crime going down.
«It’s going down in spite of him and because of Democratic leadership like mine. That is the phrase you want to use. Don’t be afraid of the crime debate. Lean all the way in. Call out what Trump is doing and say, ‘The reason crime is going down, our communities are becoming safer, is because of us,’» Rahman said.
Members of the National Guard facilitate entries at the staging area of local and federal law enforcement agencies inside the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on Aug. 12, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Craig Hudson For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Regarding questions about defunding the police, Rahman said Democrats should «call out the scare tactics.»
«I’m not about scare tactics or slogans,» she said Democrats should tell their Republican opponents. «I’m not afraid to have an honest conversation.»
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«We keep expecting police to solve every social problem. No one profession can do that. We’re spending too much and putting too much burden on them. It’s time to pry out some promising new solutions to lift the burden. It’s time for support and change, not blame,» she added.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC and Vera but did not immediately receive a response.
democratic party,elections,woke,police and law enforcement
INTERNACIONAL
Por la ola de calor, España vive el peor agosto desde hace 75 años y por los incendios se quemaron más de 400.000 hectáreas
¿Quién tiene la culpa?
Tercera semana de lucha contra las llamas
Clientes sentados cerca de un ventilador y rociando agua en una terraza durante las altas temperaturas en Barcelona, España. Foto BloombergRegistro de pirómanos
Caracas, Managua y Miami concentran en estos días la atención internacional por los recientes movimientos del dictador venezolano Nicolás Maduro, según declaraciones del periodista Jaime Bayly y reportes de la cadena NTN24.
Diversos indicios apuntan a la posibilidad de una inminente fuga de Maduro y su círculo familiar hacia Nicaragua, aliado político clave del régimen chavista en la región, en medio de un incremento de la presión militar y judicial de Estados Unidos sobre los líderes del chavismo.
“La noticia más importante del día es que el dictador venezolano Maduro estaría planeando fugarse con su familia, es decir, con su esposa, con el hijo que tiene con ella y con los tres hijos que ella tuvo de una anterior relación, a Nicaragua”, afirmó Bayly.
Aunque ni Maduro ni su esposa Cilia Flores ni sus hijos estaban a bordo, el periodista planteó otra posibilidad: “Aparentemente el avión iba cargado. ¿Cargado de qué? Bueno, cargado de dinero. Cargado de barras, de lingotes de oro. Maduro estaría llevando parte de su fortuna mal habida a Managua”.
“El avión presidencial de Maduro, que es un Conviasa 737 bastante obsoleto, voló desde Maiquetía (Caracas) hasta el aeropuerto de Managua. Esto ha sido registrado y descubierto por personas que rastrean vuelos en el mundo. La pregunta es: ¿por qué voló el avión presidencial de Maduro a Managua?”, agregó.
La información de Bayly coincide con reportes de plataformas de monitoreo aéreo como FlightRadar24 que detectaron el vuelo de un avión Airbus A340, matrícula YV1004, de la aerolínea estatal Conviasa, utilizado habitualmente por altos funcionarios venezolanos, entre ellos Maduro y Diosdado Cabello, informó NTN24.
El aparato despegó del aeropuerto de Maiquetía, que sirve a la ciudad de Caracas, y tras cruzar brevemente el espacio aéreo de Honduras ingresó a territorio nicaragüense, donde aterrizó en el Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino de Managua. NTN24 señaló que esta misma aeronave ya había realizado un vuelo similar entre Maiquetía y Managua el 15 de agosto y que, en otra ocasión reciente, un avión de Conviasa desvió su ruta a La Habana para regresar finalmente a Caracas.
Bayly, por su parte, subrayó que estos vuelos se producen en un contexto de máxima tensión política y judicial.
“El dictador venezolano Maduro estaría planeando fugarse con su familia a Nicaragua”, aseguró el periodista. Bayly añadió que el traslado reciente del avión presidencial podría haber servido para transportar “maletas, valijas, cajas llenas de dólares, de euros, principalmente de euros y de lingotes de oro”.
El periodista aseguró que Maduro estaría llevando parte de su fortuna mal habida a Managua, en previsión de que eventualmente, “Trump pudiera ordenar a su fuerza militar que entre a Venezuela a capturar a Maduro por ser el jefe de un cartel de narcotráfico, el cártel de los Soles“.
Según Bayly, la fuente original de esta versión es el periodista venezolano Emmanuel Rincón, quien sostuvo que Managua, bajo el control político de Daniel Ortega y Rosario Murillo, permanece como el principal refugio contemplado por el círculo cercano de Maduro en caso de una intervención estadounidense. “Maduro siempre pensó en Managua como su primera opción para fugar, y no ha cambiado de opinión”, indicó Bayly al citar a Rincón.
También se refirió a un aspecto clave de la coyuntura regional: la utilización de aeropuertos cercanos como bases de operaciones militares.
“La periodista Nitu Pérez Osuna ha denunciado que los aeropuertos en Curazao y en Aruba no están ya permitiendo vuelos directos a Caracas, y que hay ciertos cambios que podrían sugerir que estarían siendo evaluados como eventuales puntos desde los cuales despegarían aviones de Estados Unidos rumbo a Venezuela”, relató.
A esto se suma la disposición de Trinidad y Tobago de colaborar con una eventual acción militar estadounidense. “También se estaría entonces considerando usar los aeropuertos de Curazao, de Aruba y ciertamente de Trinidad y Tobago, que también se ha ofrecido a colaborar con la intervención militar de Estados Unidos en Venezuela, si ella llegara a ocurrir”, añadió Bayly.
La presión internacional se ha incrementado tras el envío de buques de guerra estadounidenses al sur del mar Caribe. La administración de Donald Trump, acusó formalmente a Maduro de liderar el Cartel de los Soles, calificado como una organización terrorista responsable del tráfico de cocaína y fentanilo hacia Estados Unidos, lo que también ha elevado el nivel de vigilancia sobre los desplazamientos aéreos de funcionarios y vuelos oficiales venezolanos.
En paralelo, Bayly reportó que en Miami, tres familias estadounidenses —los Kennemore, Marval y Saad— han interpuesto demandas contra Maduro, Cabello, Padrino López y otros miembros del régimen, acusándolos de secuestro y tortura. Según consigna Bayly, estas acciones legales se originan en represalias tomadas luego de la detención del empresario Alex Saab, considerado testaferro de Maduro y extraditado a Estados Unidos. Las familias alegan que fueron utilizadas como rehenes para facilitar un posterior canje de prisioneros tras pasar casi dos años en cárceles venezolanas.
Mientras tanto, líderes políticos de diversos países de la región, como el presidente paraguayo Santiago Peña, han reforzado sus denuncias sobre la legitimidad del gobierno de Maduro y su vinculación con redes internacionales de narcotráfico. Por su parte, el presidente colombiano Gustavo Petro y dirigentes chavistas como Cabello han intentado desmarcar a Venezuela del control de dichas operaciones, alegando que el “Cartel de los Soles no existe” y trasladando la atención hacia agentes externos como la DEA.
Los movimientos del aparato estatal venezolano, especialmente los vuelos hacia Managua y el aumento del cerco judicial y diplomático, son interpretados como señales de la creciente incertidumbre sobre el futuro de Maduro y su círculo, en una coyuntura marcada por investigaciones internacionales y operaciones militares en el Caribe. Las recompensas ofrecidas por la captura de Maduro, Cabello y Padrino López alcanzan los 80 millones de dólares, con varios procesos abiertos tanto en Nueva York como en Miami.
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