portfolio. jeff zeleny live at the white house. thank you. with me is rachel bate of politico, jonathan martin of the new york times , retired rear admiral john kerr by, and cnn s katelyn collins. admiral, i want to start with you because you have experience. to jeff s point, angela merkel is in trouble. barack obama, george w. bush, george h.w. bush, bill clinton would try to throw a friend a lifeline at that moment or certainly not pour salt in the wounds. this president seems to relish these fights with people who, on paper historically, are friends. yeah, it s really difficult to understand. we need germany. they host 30,000 some troop miss their country alone. germany is a great logistical, medical hub for us. we couldn t have fought in iraq and afghanistan for the last 17 years without the support we get there. secondly, it makes little sense to me if you want germany to ante up more of their defense spending why you would pick on merkel. it s already an unpopular thing to do