Donald Trump has been widely condemned for stating that it would encourage Russia attack NATO members who did not ‘pay’.
Among those condemning the former president were the White House, which called his comments “unhinged,” and a former communications aide who said Trump was emboldening Vladimir Putin, amid fears he could even trigger World War III.
The former president made the alarming promise to rile a cheering crowd that took to the streets outside his rally in Conway, South Carolina, on Saturday.
‘The president of a big country stood up and said, “If we don’t pay and Russia attacks us, will they protect us?” I said you didn’t pay, are you in default? He said, “Yeah, let’s just say that happened.”
‘No, I wouldn’t protect you, in fact I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever they want, you have to pay! You have to pay your bills.
Trump flew back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after the rally, where he walked through a room full of cheering supporters to hug his wife Melania.
Donald Trump has claimed that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members who do not pay their share of the alliance’s budget.
Trump was seen being hugged by his wife Melania after returning to Mar-a-Lago later Saturday night.
The White House called Trump’s words “appalling and unhinged” and argued that they “promoted dangerous chaos.”
“President Biden has restored our alliances and made us stronger in the world because he knows that the first responsibility of every commander in chief is to keep the American people safe and be true to the values that unite us,” it said.
“Encouraging the invasion of our closest allies by murderous regimes is egregious and unhinged, and endangers American national security, global stability, and our domestic economy.
“Instead of calling for wars and promoting unhinged chaos, President Biden will continue to strengthen American leadership and defend our national security interests, not against them.”
Trump’s former communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, wrote on Twitter that his statement that he would not help NATO allies was “music to Putin’s ears.”
Griffin, who now co-hosts The View, also called Trump a “sad old man” for mocking his opponent Nikki Haley because her husband wasn’t with her on the campaign trail because he is serving in the National Guard in Africa.
DailyMail.com previously revealed claims that Haley cheated on her husband with two other men, and Trump apparently made a vague reference to the scandal in his comments.
Other prominent figures, including lawmakers, retired military personnel, journalists and congressmen, expressed horror at Trump’s comments online.
Trump’s former communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, wrote on Twitter that his statement that he would not help NATO allies was “music to Putin’s ears.”
In the past, Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and even sided with him when it came to U.S. intelligence agencies when Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election.
But Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany in 2018-2020 and acting director of National Intelligence in the final months of the Trump administration, backed his former boss.
He also suggested that Trump was referring to a conversation with a German chancellor, although the former president gave no clue as to which leader he was speaking to.
“Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the country that runs the most budget surpluses each year, only began to increase its obligations to NATO after being pressured by Trump,” he said.
‘Biden is no longer putting pressure on Germany and that is why they are no longer increasing. Today, the Germans still do not pay the 2% required of NATO members.
“The only lesson for the American taxpayer is that we must have an American president who puts great pressure on Germany.”
NATO members are not “obliged” to spend two percent of their GDP on defense; It’s a guideline the alliance agreed to work on in 2014, long before Trump.
Trump at the rally also repeated his frequent and dubious claim that while president he forced European allies to pay more for defense.
‘NATO was ruined until I arrived. I said, “Everyone is going to pay.” They said, “Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?” I said “absolutely not.” “They couldn’t believe the response,” he said.
Another former ambassador, Michael McFaul, who was Barack Obama’s man in Russia between 2012 and 2014, said Trump did not understand how NATO works.
‘This is crazy. And 8 years later, Trump shows that he STILL doesn’t understand how NATO works! It is not a protection business. They don’t pay us to protect them,’ she wrote on Twitter.
Trump claimed twice during his speech that he repeated his frequent claim that while president he forced European allies to pay more for defense.
Trump often claims that he single-handedly convinced NATO members to contribute more, but there is no record of this ever happening.
As McFaul explained, NATO funding also doesn’t work as Trump often claims it does, and his boast does not fit with reality.
No NATO member fails to pay its share of the alliance’s $3 billion common budget, which is based on GDP and of which the United States pays 16 percent.
That aside, NATO members in 2014—before Trump even entered the presidential race—pledged to increase their defense spending.
A target of 2 percent of GDP was set by 2024, in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and defense spending by NATO’s 29 countries has risen steadily.
This plan was created long before Trump had any influence over NATO countries, but he took credit for it dozens of times over the past eight years.
Trump, during a town hall in New Hampshire last month, also made the same wildly incorrect claim, arguing that NATO was “taking advantage” of the United States.
‘European countries took advantage of… I want to use the S-word, but I don’t want to because I see some young, very good-looking boys in the audience, and I assume they are watching on television,’ he said.
‘But they took advantage of us in trade, and then they took advantage of us in our military protection.
‘Of the 28 countries at that time, only eight countries were paid. We were paying the difference.
Trump speaks at a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Conway, South Carolina
‘And I went towards them. I told him: “if you don’t pay, we are not going to protect you.” And they said, “Do you mean that?” I said, “I’m serious.” And the next day, billions of dollars poured into NATO.”
Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO several times while president, calling it “obsolete” and a drain on American resources.
This is despite the fact that the roughly $500 million the United States pays in direct financing is dwarfed by the $842 billion defense budget.
Congress was so concerned that Trump could unilaterally withdraw from NATO if he won a second term that it passed a law in December requiring the president to win a two-thirds majority of the Senate to do so.
Trump also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, even siding with him regarding U.S. intelligence agencies when Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election.
Putin denied having any interest in attacking NATO countries, such as Poland and the Baltic states, in his controversial interview with Tucker Carlson.
‘Only in one case, if Poland attacks Russia. We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply have no interest. It’s absolutely out of the question,” she stated.
Putin denied having any interest in attacking NATO countries, such as Poland and the Baltic states, in his controversial interview with Tucker Carlson.
French soldiers take part in a major drill as part of NATO’s “enhanced forward presence” (EFP) deployment to Poland and the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2022.
Trump’s claim that he would “encourage” Russia to attack NATO allies had disturbing parallels to when he asked Russian hackers to find emails from Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the US presidential election.
‘Russia, if you’re listening. I hope they can find the 30,000 missing emails,” she said in July 2016 during the election campaign.
Hours later, the Main Intelligence Directorate in Moscow appeared to heed the call, targeting Clinton’s personal office and attacking more than 70 other Clinton campaign accounts.
This was according to a grand jury indictment that charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers with hacking into Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party as part of a broad Kremlin conspiracy to meddle in the election.