Republicans blast Trump over threat to abandon NATO allies

On Sunday, a number of Republicans who supported US President Donald Trump expressed their disapproval of his statement that he would not wish to defend NATO members against a Russian invasion if their payments to the defence alliance were falling short.

“This is why I’ve been saying for a long time that he’s unfit to be president of the United States,” former Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.

During a political rally on Saturday in South Carolina, Trump complained about what he called “delinquent” payments by some NATO countries and recounted what he said was a past conversation with the head of “a big country” about an attack by Russia on such countries.

“No, I would not protect you. In fact I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay,” Trump said he told the unnamed leader.

The statements drew criticism from the White House, which described them as “appalling and unhinged,” as well as from other prominent Western leaders.

The inability of several of NATO’s 31 members to reach a defence expenditure objective of at least 2% of GDP has long been a source of contention with the United States, whose armed forces constitute the foundation of the alliance’s military might. NATO estimates reveal that just 11 countries are spending at the desired level.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is Trump’s lone remaining challenger for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said: “The last thing we ever want to do is side with Russia.”

Interviewed on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” she added: “Don’t take the side of someone who has gone and invaded a country and half a million people have died or been wounded because of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” in his war against Ukraine.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump’s, told Reuters in a brief hallway interview that he disagreed “with the way he (Trump) said it,” referring to the NATO remarks. Graham added: “Russia didn’t invade anybody when he was president and if he’s president again they won’t.”

According to Politico, Republican Senator Thom Tillis accused Trump’s staff of neglecting to inform the former president that the US is obligated as a NATO member to protect any member of the alliance that comes under assault.

Additionally, Republican Senator Rand Paul was described as calling Trump’s comments a “stupid thing to say.”

Some Republicans supported Trump on a day when the Senate was debating President Joe Biden’s request for emergency funding to help Ukraine fight a nearly two-year-old Russian invasion and Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

“Virtually every American president at some point, in some way, has complained about other countries in NATO not doing enough. Trump’s just the first one to express it in these terms. But I have zero concern, because he’s been president before,” Senator Marco Rubio said in an interview with CNN.

Jason Miller, senior Trump campaign advisor, in a statement sidestepped the remark encouraging Russia to take on some NATO allies, saying: “Democrat and media pearl-clutchers seem to have forgotten that we had four years of peace and prosperity under President Trump,” while leveling attacks against Biden.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senator Peter Welch told Reuters: Trump “normalizes belligerent behavior. But in fact he means it.”