CNN’s John Berman and Alisyn Camerota discussed President Trump’s tone at the NATO summit in Brussels with Bloomberg Opinion editor Bobby Ghosh on Wednesday. Berman noted “an element of ‘I know you are, but what am I?'” in the president’s rhetoric.
Ghosh explained that while former President Obama had certainly been tough with America’s NATO allies — at one point referring to them as “free riders” — Trump’s attack on Germany went much farther.
“To say things like, ‘You are under control of Russia, you’re a captive to Russia — to a woman born and raised in East Germany,'” he said, “that’s almost like you’re taking a special pleasure in insulting her.”
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Berman weighed in then, characterizing Trump’s adversarial tone as, “I know you are, but what am I?”
He said, “There’s an element of ‘I know you are but, what am I?’ with it as well, with President Trump. We saw it during the campaign. ‘You’re going to call me a liar? No, you’re a liar.’ ‘You’re going to say I’m close to Russia? No, you’re close to Russia.'”