Trump’s NATO comments ‘appalling, dangerous’
United States President Joe Biden slammed as “appalling and dangerous” comments by Donald Trump that downplayed his commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), warning on Sunday that the former president intended to give Russian leader Vladimir Putin “a greenlight for more war and violence.”
Biden spoke after Trump said in a speech on Saturday that he would “encourage” Russia to attack NATO members who had not met their financial obligations, his most extreme broadside against the military alliance he has long expressed skepticism about.
Those comments, at a campaign rally in South Carolina, prompted stark warnings at home and abroad that he was putting the alliance in peril, renewing doubts over the US’ commitment to the mutual defense treaty if the ex-president and current Republican frontrunner wins in November.
“Donald Trump’s admission that he intends to give Putin a greenlight for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous,” Biden said in a statement.
Trump had described what he said was a conversation with a fellow head of state at an unspecified NATO meeting.
“One of the presidents 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?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent?’”
“No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
Trump has regularly criticized NATO allies for not meeting a goal of spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
“You got to pay. You got to pay your bills,”Trump, who is almost certain to be the Republican nominee for this year’s presidential election, said on Saturday.
Trump’s remark comes after Senate Republicans on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan bill that would have included sorely needed funding for Ukraine, plus aid for ally Israel, along with reforms to address the US-Mexico border crisis.
A foreign aid package that decouples the aid from the border issue entirely passed a key procedural vote in the US Senate on Sunday, though Republicans may yet block it from becoming law.
The $95-billion package includes funding for Israel and Taiwan, but most would go toward helping Ukraine rearm as it enters a third year of war since Putin ordered a full-scale invasion.
The White House previously said on Saturday that “encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Sunday that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US.”