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They used to have a specific strategy for accomplishing this:
The USA provided military security for Europe so that Europe would not have any need to spend money for military. The USA's goal was to minimize EU countries' military spending so that USA would remain an uncontested military hegemon. That gives it a lot of influence that can be translated into actual cash.
At the same time, EU countries saved several percents of their GDP and could use it for the good of their own populations. It was a win-win situation.
But then the Russia organized this movement called "MAGA", and that movement successfully cancelled the arrangement. (Funnily enough, the abbreviation "maga" comes from "make America great again", which would suggest strategies for increasing USA's influence, not diminishing it. But what do I know.)
That is because the MAGA/P2025/neofascist plan is not to maintain hegemony against near-peers (which is expensive on the citizen), it is to return to the mythologized post-war boom by letting the rest of the world go to shit again and then to swoop in to "save" everyone (again) while selling them weapons and industrial stuff (but not to let them reindustrialize again, like during the cold war).
What is preverse is that it was the reindustrialization and social state of Japan, Germany/EU that was the poster child that helped keep these blocks from turning fully socialist and win hearts and minds abroad during the cold war. I guess that was too successful and is making russia/US look bad.
PS: btw, this "strategy" is risky, because there is no way to guarantee that WW3 won't reach US soil this time, you can't just sit it out.
They saved it in US government bonds which gave the US the money to finance the weapons.
Which could make one wonder if the US politicians are that stupid. There would be one reasonable reason to end the arrangement: if there is another war to be fought.
China is the bigger threat to US hegemony and the way things are, we will fight with the US against China and Russia. All the drama exists to prevent the population from objecting to a war that inevitably will become nuclear.
Not stupid; cowardly. Nobody dares to challenge the herd.
Rump is incredibly stupid. A very very very very stupid man, who believes most of his own bullshit. But he understands how stupid racist Americans think and it's very plausible to those ears.
Are you sure it's not "Muzzle America for Global Autocrats"?