New Polish military base may be called Fort Trump
WASHINGTON — Despite espousing an “America First” foreign policy strategy, President Donald Trump is considering opening “Fort Trump” — a permanent military base in Poland.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters after meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday that he quickly dubbed the base “Fort Trump,” an obvious appeal to the businessman turned U.S. president who has hotels, condos and golf courses around the globe named after himself.
“The presence of the U.S. armed forces in this area is absolutely justified,” Duda said. “I am convinced there is no more effective method of preventing a war than a decisive stance illustrating that we are ready at any moment to repel possible attack.”
Poland and other Eastern European countries have been lobbying the United States to increase the number of troops on the continent as they worry about combating an increasingly aggressive Russia.
Still, Trump’s decision is surprising because he has talked about bringing U.S. troops home from across the world since he was on the campaign trail talking about America First.
Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to punish countries if they don’t spend enough on defense, said he would only agree if Poland is willing to pay the United States.
“Poland would be paying billions of dollars for a base,” he said. “And we’re looking at that more and more from the standpoint of defending really wealthy countries and not being ... paid. It’s one thing when we defend countries that can’t defend themselves ... . We don’t expect anything for that. But when we’re defending immensely wealthy countries and they’re not the paying for the defense to the United States, they’re only taking advantage of us.”