It took some time before Donald Trump’s Saturday night statement that he would not come to the aid of European NATO allies and would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to get the attention it deserved in the media. The initial response was to largely ignore the statement, as the national press seems to ignore most Trump statements.
But after a day in which both President Joe Biden and European leaders pointed out the immeasurable importance of this statement, coverage began to grow. Not so much that it displaced stories about Biden’s supposed memory issues, but it did rate front-page coverage in many outlets by Monday morning.
But even as the story gathered attention, and as Republicans hustled to once again show that they placed their loyalty to Trump over anything else, the reporting on the topic continued to miss major aspects of this story, including what might be the most important factor: What Trump is threatening to do isn’t just to abandon allies, but to abandon the Constitution.
NATO was founded in 1949 when the original 12 members signed the NATO charter, which includes Article 5. That article is the core of NATO, providing the requirement for mutual defense.
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
In the 74 years that NATO has existed, this article has been invoked just one time. The nation that pushed that button was the United States.
On the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, within hours of the attacks by terrorists, the United States called on its allies. An organization founded on protecting Europe and North America found itself helping to fight a war in the cities, mountains, and deserts of Afghanistan.
NATO forces would remain in Afghanistan, fighting alongside American troops, for nearly 20 years. Every NATO member contributed to the effort, establishing bases across the country. Other nations, including Australia, New Zealand, and Mongolia, sent forces to fight in Afghanistan, even though they were not members of NATO.
From 2003 on, NATO led the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Other non-NATO members contributed to this force, including Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine had troops in Afghanistan for 14 years, only bringing its final small contingent home in 2021.
NATO members including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Romania, Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Finland, Portugal, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, and Montenegro all lost service members in Afghanistan. Those people died answering the call of their U.S. ally.
Which of these nations did Trump say he would leave for Russia to “do whatever they want” with?
Beyond this obvious betrayal of nations that came when the United States called and who lost their young men and women in the dust of Afghanistan, there’s an even bigger reason why Trump’s statement that he would ignore a call from a NATO ally should be shocking.
That’s because Article VI of the Constitution declares, "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States ... and all Treaties made" are the "supreme Law of the Land." Trump is not just saying that he will break treaty obligations to U.S. allies and hand them over to Russia, he is flat-out saying that he will break the law. Because treaties are law.
Failure to abide by the obligations of Article 5 would be the gravest possible betrayal of our allies and a direct failure to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It seems like someone should be making a big deal about this. But that doesn’t seem to feature in the coverage.
At the moment, Vladimir Putin is staying quiet. Maybe he thinks gloating about Trump’s statements would be just too big a tipoff to his plans as the military assistance for Ukraine that passed the Senate early this morning heads for the House.
Meanwhile, Republicans are proving once again that they have an unlimited ability to dismiss anything that Trump says. That includes Sen. Marco Rubio, who blew off Trump’s statement by saying, “He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician.”
Maybe Rubio thinks the threat of Trump is contained because in December, Congress passed a bill that would prevent any president from withdrawing from NATO without a two-thirds vote of Congress. Rubio was one of the sponsors of that bill.
But trying to build a wall around Trump by passing a law is about as pointless as Trump’s wall along the border. After all, just ignoring Article 5 is ignoring the supreme law of the land. If Trump can ignore that law, he can ignore any law.
It’s not like Rubio will stand up to him.
Meanwhile, European leaders are consigning U.S. leadership to the dustbin and preparing for a world in which America is an afterthought.
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