OLD AND BUSTED: John Kerry’s infamous 2004 “global test” presidential debate rhetoric.
The New Hotness? Europe flunks Trump’s test:
It’s genuinely hard to understand why this is so difficult for people to grasp, other than sheer Trump derangement. Trump wasn’t invoking NATO’s legal obligations. He was testing whether European countries that the U.S. has protected for over 80 years would do the bare minimum to… https://t.co/pUUtiPc6vP
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) March 28, 2026
Tweet continues, Trump “was testing whether European countries that the U.S. has protected for over 80 years would do the bare minimum to help secure global sea lanes, which American taxpayers have also been underwriting for decades at no cost to them. In this case, those sea lanes benefit Europe far more than the U.S. and Europe failed the test.”
Exit question: The Hormuz Hypothesis – What If the U.S. Navy Isn’t in a Hurry to Reopen the Strait?