It's part troll, part ploy. President Trump thinks like this: "I want the rest of NATO to fund their own defense. Who is the most credible threat to any other NATO country?" The US. He'll say some blustery stuff, but he wants the Europeans to arm themselves.
He also knows that the press will overreact to everything he says and does. He's counting on it.
For the record, I am nevertheless appalled. I would never act like this. I'll be glad when these days are ended. But the first principle in realpolitik, or foreign policy realism, is to assume rational actors. If the president is not sick or crazy, he's trying to get out of the Cold War framework.
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