See Updates Below
So it seems Saturday in South Carolina, Trump was bragging how he told NATO leaders if they didn’t pay up, he’d invite Russia to do whatever the hell they wanted to them. Via The NY Times (full access):
Speaking in Conway, S.C., Donald J. Trump said as president he’d told NATO allies that he would urge Russian aggression against countries that owed the military alliance money.
...He has in the past recalled privately telling NATO members that the United States would not defend them from Russian attacks if they were in arrears. Last year, he claimed during a campaign speech that “hundreds of billions of dollars came flowing in” to NATO after he made that threat.
On Saturday, he again brought up that anecdote, saying that he told European leaders they had to “pay up.”
Then, he said, the president of “a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’”
Mr. Trump said he asked the other president if the country was “delinquent” in its payments. The leader responded, “Yes. Let’s say that happened,” Mr. Trump said.
“No, I would not protect you,” Mr. Trump recalled responding. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You’ve got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
emphasis added
Here’s the video clip:
Amazing, isn’t it? The man is a notorious deadbeat who is always stiffing people to whom he owes money — and here he is hectoring world leaders like a two-bit collection agency shill.
...“NATO isn’t a pay to play set up, as Trump seems to think. It’s an Alliance that is first and foremost about US national security interests to prevent another world war originating in Europe,” said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, in an email to The Post. “The US investment in NATO is worth every dollar - the only time that the article 5 collective defense clause was initiated was in response to 9/11. Our Allies came to our aid then, and it would be shameful and misguided to not do the same.”
...Daniel Fried, a 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 where other countries, where the [U.S.] intimidates or threatens other countries. The trouble with that is when we need them those other countries won’t be there.”
“Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Trump has also often suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine, had he remained in office.
emphasis added
Trump apparently views NATO as a U.S. protection racket — nice little countries you have here — be a shame if something happened to them. He’s the muscle who goes around to get them to pay up.
So, are we going to see multiple headlines and editorials from the media warning that Trump is totally delusional and should not be running at all? Are they going to talk about the damage to our international relations as a dependable ally? Will the Sunday morning talking head shows spend any time on this, or will they just gloss over it in passing?
Will they call Trump (and Republicans) totally unfit for office — or will they just keep hammering on Biden. Is this going to be another “Grab them by the pussy” moment that quickly fades from the attention of the press?
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are mulling over how best to muck up sending aid to Ukraine to show Donald they tried their best to block it. From The NY Times: Republican Senators Continue to Push for Revisions to Ukraine-Israel Aid Bill -The legislation faces a critical vote today in the Senate.
Some of the Republican senators who have helped nudge the foreign aid bill along have warned that their support for its final passage — a vote leaders hope to hold on Tuesday — depends on having the ability to propose changes on the floor, including several related to the border. While they have acknowledged it is unlikely such proposals could secure the 60 votes needed to amend the bill, the exercise of voting on them still allows them to show the G.O.P. base — and former President Donald J. Trump, whose criticism doomed the earlier version — that they tried to force the changes through.
emphasis added
Donald Trump has managed to make himself into an existential threat. Take him seriously and literally.
UPDATES:
The Guardian has two articles about this — right at the top.
The Joe Biden White House rebuked the former president’s comments as ‘appalling and unhinged’
Jens Stoltenberg says Nato ‘ready and able to defend all allies’, after Trump invited Russia to attack member countries
Anieli has a diary up about this as well.
The BBC is a bit more restrained, simply reporting this as:
France 24 puts it this way:
White House hopeful Donald Trump said on Saturday he would "encourage" Russia to attack members of NATO who had not met their financial obligations, his most extreme broadside against the military alliance he has long expressed skepticism about.
Odds are the U.S. mainstream press will have disappeared this story by Monday, because it will all be about the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift. And they’ll still be seriously concerned about Biden’s age….