What else did he do that was so bad? Also I am not saying he was uniquely perceptive about German and overall European energy dependence on Putin. My point is that for all the talk about his praising of Putin, in terms of his actual actions, he behaved a lot better than the Europeans.
One of the most egregious, and thankfully not carried out, was the withdrawal of a third of our troops from Germany that was announced in the summer of 2020. It was done so without consulting NATO or more importantly the leaders of Germany, Italy and Belgium where the troops were supposed to move to and from. Or Congress for that matter, the folks who approve the funding which is kinda important when it comes to stuff that's going to cost a lot.
But the main problem was not the how but why. Moving the troops from Germany to Belgium and Italy made no sense in particular, which is away from the main 'problem' that NATO was and is facing, so why the move? Well, it came down the fact that the previous President didn't like Chancellor Merkel of Germany. That's it. He was making a large, permanent and expensive troop redeployment without bothering to consult some of our closest allies, all because he didn't like someone.
On the more extreme things he would say, he'd usually do the opposite. On other things, such as red lines regarding the killing of Americans, he was dead serious.
And there is the core of the problem, you can't trust anything he says. At all.
I assume you mean his saying he trusts the Russians over the American intelligence agencies? I agree that such a thing isn't noble behavior in a president, but it also IMO wasn't the big deal everyone was making it out to be either,
Yes, and it was a big deal. Especially coupled with all the other admiration he heaped upon Putin and Russia. It wasn't just unseemly but damaging, and to the folks who say it was for reasons I am still trying to figure out what the hell they were.
...especially given the vast amounts of nonsense Trump was known to spout. I don't even think the issue of Russian interference in the election (what Trump was referring to) was really any major deal.
Again, a bit of a problem when it comes to someone who is the President of the United States.