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“One of the presidents of a great nation stood up and said, ‘Okay, if we don’t pay and the Russians attack us, you protect us,'” Trump said at a rally at Coastal Carolina University. Can you give it to me?'” he said. . “I said, ‘You’re not paying. You’re a delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I won’t protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever they want. ”
Trump’s comments come as Republicans debate whether to provide additional foreign aid to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia after being invaded by Moscow in 2022. The Senate is considering a bill that would provide $60 billion to Ukraine. But House Republicans have also expressed skepticism that Trump would do so.
President Trump has long been a vocal critic of U.S. participation in the alliance, frequently criticizing European countries’ sharing of defense spending and appearing to mention indirect funding as part of joining the alliance. .
Since 2006, each NATO member state has set guidelines to allocate at least 2 percent of gross domestic product to defense spending by 2024. Even before Trump took office, NATO countries had already significantly increased funding after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. More than half have reached or are close to meeting that goal by 2023, and many member states are increasing spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Trump has previously indicated that he has threatened not to protect NATO allies from Russian attack. During the 2022 event The former president recalled at the Heritage Foundation a meeting in which he told foreign leaders that unless other countries spent more money on their own defense, they might not comply with the collective defense clause of NATO Article V.
The anecdote appears to be a reference to the 2018 NATO summit, where leaders suggested President Trump’s threats were less obvious, as previously reported by The Washington Post. But Saturday’s comments were an escalation of previous statements.
Article 5 stipulates that if a NATO ally is attacked, other NATO members “will consider it an armed attack against all members and will take such actions as they deem necessary to support the attacked ally.” ing. Since NATO’s creation in 1949, this clause has only been invoked once, on September 12, 2001, following the terrorist attacks on the United States the previous day.
Several NATO partnership experts said President Trump’s understanding of NATO members’ financial obligations is inaccurate and argued that their opposition to collective security is misguided.
“NATO was not created for pay, as President Trump believes. alliance,” Alina Poliakova, president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, said in an email to the Post. “America’s investment in NATO is worth every dollar. The only time the Article V collective defense clause was invoked was in response to 9/11. At that time, our allies came to our aid. But it would be shameful and misguided not to do the same.”
In May 2017, President Trump initially did not affirm the United States’ commitment to Article 5, but changed his mind two weeks later. President Trump has expressed widespread skepticism about NATO. His campaign website states: “We must complete the process begun under my administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and mission.”
The New York Times reported in 2019 that President Trump had discussed withdrawing from NATO. President Trump claimed that during his tenure, complaints about other countries as “delinquent” members brought in “hundreds of billions” of dollars to NATO, and that he was responsible for forcing NATO countries to pay more. He repeatedly tried to claim credit.
Daniel Fried, former assistant secretary of state for European affairs and fellow at the Atlantic Council, said of Trump: “He seems to prefer a world based on pure power, but in other countries, [U.S.] Intimidate or threaten other countries. The problem is that other countries won’t be there when we need them. ”
“Encouraging a brutal regime to invade its closest ally is horrifying and inexcusable, and threatens the national security of the United States and the world,” White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. It puts the stability of the country and the domestic economy at risk.”
President Trump has also frequently suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he had remained in office.
Saturday’s speech will be Trump’s first visit to South Carolina this year, and he will face former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Feb. 24 primary. Trump currently leads in South Carolina polls and has the support of key officials in the state, including Governor Henry McMaster. A recent Washington Post-Monmouth University poll found Trump’s approval rating among potential Republican primary voters at 58%, compared to 32% for Haley.
In a sign that Trump is focused on the general election, he did not spend much time attacking Haley. However, at one point in his speech, he attacked Haley’s husband, who is currently serving in the military overseas.
“Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s not there,” President Trump said. “He’s gone. He knew, he knew.”
haley At a nightly rally in Gilbert, South Carolina, she responded to Trump’s attacks on her husband, defending his accomplishments and once again calling on Trump for a debate.
“I’ll tell you this: Donald, if you have something to say, don’t say it behind my back. Get on the debate stage and say it to my face,” Haley said. “If you make fun of the accomplishments of veterans, you don’t deserve to get a driver’s license, much less be president of the United States.”
Haley continued to criticize Trump at events across the state on Saturday.her staff fainted Mock mental ability test Challenging reporters to take sides between Trump and Biden, attendees were greeted with stickers depicting a chicken with Trump-like features that read, “Trump is too chicken to debate.” I pasted it. Mobile billboards surrounding Trump’s events read “Grumpy Old People.”
Dylan Wells contributed to this report.
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