yep

Is anyone going to ask how much fossil fuel the potatoes wasted for this PR stunt?

We got a free and democratic Europe. Over the last several decades, our investment in European freedom has repaid itself many times over. You could say the same for Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

We don’t need to extract tribute from these countries to see the benefits. That’s what empires do, and throughout history empires inevitably end up spending even more money and blood to collect taxes and subdue people who don’t want them there and thereby bring about their own collapse.

Pray tell how has Europe repaid us. In what way have they been a asset. Being free and democratic is benefit to them not to us.

Freedom is inherently valuable — but if you want to put a price tag on it:

-Consider all the cross-Atlantic trade that’s taken place from WWII to now.
-Consider all the scientific and engineering collaboration between Europe and America.
-Consider that we may have gone to war with a hypothetical Nazi-unified Europe.
-Consider that American democracy may have collapsed due to homegrown pro-Nazi collaborators admiring the success of their racist cousins across the pond.

No one can predict exactly how a Nazi victory in WWII would have gone, but if your imagination needs stimulating, watch Man in the High Castle

Europe is a shithole for the most part.

And they look at ya, with that smell...

That "for the most part" does a lot of work

Radical-right isolationists will tell you with a straight face that they want to "save Western civilization," then in the next breath will tell you they don't give a shit about what happens to Europe.

Europe is synonymous with Western Civilization - always has been. The idea that our upstart American nation that hasn't even turned 300 years old is lecturing Europe on how to be civilized is a joke.