So this morning I wake up and check the news, and I see that today The Creature is ranting that Germany is “captive to Russia.”

“Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia,” Trump told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in a fiery on-camera exchange that was among the harshest in the history of the post-World War II alliance.

“We have to talk about the billions and billions of dollars that’s being paid to the country we’re supposed to be protecting you against,” Trump said, referring to European purchases of Russian natural gas.

This is the same guy who is planning a one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin with only translators present. This is the same guy who, just a few days ago, delivered a signature unhinged rally speech that in which he pounded allies, Democrats and some Republicans with demented hate speech and then declared that Putin is just a regular guy. “He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people.”

(See Jonathan Chait, “Trump Is Training His Base to Hate NATO and Like Putin.”)

There are reasons to be concerned about the Russian-German pipeline, which has been in the works for several years. (See “The Russian pipeline to Germany that Trump is so mad about, explained.”) There are means of addressing those concerns that rise above the level of playground insults, however.

Related: “Good Work, Republicans” at Talking Points Memo.