Topline
Former President Donald Trump managed to distract attention from President Joe Biden—whose cognitive abilities face increased attention after a special counsel’s recent report—by attacking alleged non-paying NATO nations Saturday, saying he would encourage Russia “do whatever the hell they want” if other coalition members didn’t pay more, drawing immediate condemnation from foreign allies.
In a speech Saturday Trump criticized the U.S. financial support of non-paying NATO nations.
Key Facts
During a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday, Trump said he did not want to financially support NATO nations, even if they were attacked by Russia, “they said ‘if we don’t pay are you still going to protect us,’ I said absolutely not,” Trump said.
As in the past, Trump mischaracterizes the issue—there is no debt to NATO—and is likely referring to some NATO members not meeting their pledge to spend 2% of their GDP on defense spending, an ongoing internal dispute among NATO nations.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates described Trump’s comments as “appalling and unhinged” and said encouraging invasions of U.S. allies “endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters Trump’s comments put American and European soldiers at “increased risk,” and said “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security.”
European Council President Charles Michel said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that Trump’s were “reckless” and only serve Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interests.
Thierry Breton, European Union internal market commissioner said during an LCI television interview Europe would be able to handle Trump as president again but added “we cannot flip a coin about our security every four years depending on this or that election, namely the U.S. presidential election.”
Chief Critics
Democrats were quick to jump on Trump’s latest comments. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Trump’s “more interested in aggrandizing himself and pleasing Putin than protecting our allies,” adding his comments “would be enough to make Reagan ill.” Meanwhile, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) saw Trump’s comments as a warning: “I guess the Scolding Industrial Complex is gonna tell us not to say Russia Trump Trump Russia but honestly this seems kinda important,” he tweeted. Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley similarly critiqued his remarks during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation and affirmed her support for NATO. Haley said there are ways to pressure NATO members without “sitting there and telling Russia, have your way with these countries.”
Contra
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Trump’s comments were not reason for concern, “virtually every American president at some point in some way has complained about other countries in NATO not doing enough.” Rubio, while speaking on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, said he has “zero concern” about the United States’ alliance with NATO under Trump because he’s been president before. “I know exactly what he has done and will do with the NATO alliance but there has to be an alliance,” he said.
Key Background
Once again Saturday,Trump criticized the billions of dollars being sent to help Ukraine fight Russia. Those citiques come as the Senate continues to debate a foreign aid package that would include funding for Ukraine. He said the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine was one that needs to end and promised he would “get it settled.” Instead of sending aid to nations, Trump suggested loaning countries money they would pay back. Trump has long been critical of NATO, has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the bloc and has been publicly critical of member states who were not meeting the 2% defense spending pledge. A report released last year found 11 of the then-30 states were not meeting that spending target. With Trump potentially headed back to the White House, there’s increased concern from some NATO members about what Trump’s anti-NATO, pro-Putin stance could mean for their security. Last week, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen warned it could be in the next three to five years that Russia could attack NATO, “Russia’s capacity to produce military equipment has increased tremendously.”
Tangent
The swift and widespread criticism of Trump’s comments managed to turn attention away from President Joe Biden, who has been under near constant scrutiny after Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report Thursday that refused to charge Biden over mishandled classified data, but was starkly critical of his memory issues.
