The balloons have been popped, the confetti has been swept up, the fireworks have fizzled, the lies have been told, the fear mongering has reached its climax and the thunderous, obscene “lock her up,” and worse, cheers and shouts have subsided — for now.
But even before all this happened, the still presumptive but already presumptuous Republican presidential nominee put his foot once more in his mouth showing once again his ignorance and immaturity and displaying his total lack of commitment and ability to lead the free world.
In an interview with the New York Times , the GOP presidential nominee trashed a key pillar of U.S. national security policy, saying, in essence, that if Russia attacked the Baltic States – NATO members — he would decide whether to come to their defense only after determining whether the Baltic States had fulfilled their financial obligations to NATO — in other words whether they had coughed up enough money.
Trump’s exact words according to the Times, “We’re talking about countries that are doing very well. Then yes, I would be absolutely prepared to tell those countries, ‘Congratulations, you will be defending yourself.’”
Such an irresponsible and reckless position is, in my opinion, comparable to a father telling his children that if they are attacked by some hoodlums he would come to their defense only after reviewing if they had done their chores satisfactorily — or an older brother telling his young siblings in trouble a similar story.
Even the conservative Wall Street Journal slammed Trump on this: “Such a change in policy would put the alliance into question and fundamentally rewrite the rules of European security that have been in place since the end of World War II.”
There has been immediate and indignant reaction from both sides of the Atlantic and from both sides of the U.S. political aisle.
Here are some:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, fired back, according to the Journal:
The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization took the unusual step of wading into the U.S. presidential campaign on Thursday after nominee Donald rekindled a foreign policy debate by saying the U.S. may not come to the aid of alliance members if they are attacked by Russia.
“I will not interfere in the U.S. election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “Solidarity among allies is a key value for NATO.”
Without mentioning Mr. Trump by name, Mr. Stoltenberg said alliance members “defend one another.” Article 5 of the 1949 treaty that established NATO stipulates that an attack on one member represents an attack on all and requires the alliance to come to the defense of any country attacked.
“NATO is the basis for our security,” Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka reportedly said in response to Trump’s comments at a news conference in Poland. “I expect that also in the United States, whoever wins the presidential election, I hope the United States will remain a solid NATO partner,” says Defense News.
Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik, the leader of a small country that fought with us in Afghanistan and “one of five NATO allies in Europe that have in fact met the 2%” of gross domestic product NATO expects its members to contribute to defense, twitted: “We are equally committed to all our NATO allies, regardless of who they may be. That’s what makes them allies.”
The White House said that President Barack Obama has an “ironclad” commitment to NATO allies. “There should be no mistake or miscalculation made about this country’s commitment to our Transatlantic alliance,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest according to the Journal.
Secretary of State John Kerry, while declining to address Trump’s comments further, said, “This administration, like every single administration, Republican and Democratic alike, since 1949, remains fully committed to the NATO alliance and our security commitments under Article 5.”
The Journal adds:
“Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the U.S. less safe,” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said in a statement, adding they would make Russian President Vladimir Putin “a very happy man.”
“The Republican nominee for president is essentially telling the Russians and other bad actors that the U.S. is not fully committed to supporting the NATO alliance,” Mr. Graham said, adding he hoped Mr. Trump would correct himself.
Of course, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign “quickly seized upon Mr. Trump’s comments.”
“Ronald Reagan would be ashamed. Harry Truman would be ashamed,” said Jake Sullivan, senior policy adviser to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, in a statement. “Republicans, Democrats and Independents who (helped) build NATO into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our commander-in-chief.”
Mr. Sullivan said the Republican nominee’s comments “flatly contradicted” a Wednesday convention speech by Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, who said Mr. Trump would stand with the U.S.’s allies.
For good measure, the Journal adds:
Over the course of the campaign, Mr. Trump has taken other unorthodox positions that have roiled the national security establishment.
This year, the Republican nominee said it wouldn’t be so bad if Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia obtained nuclear weapons of their own, saying that nuclear proliferation would “happen anyway.”
In the New York Times interview on Wednesday, he said the U.S. wouldn’t pressure Turkey or other countries to stop authoritarian behavior, saying Washington doesn’t have a right to lecture others and should fix its own mess first.
Finally, according to Defense News:
Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, whose last post was a four-year stint as supreme allied commander at NATO, overseeing the alliance’s military operations across the globe, tweeted Thursday: “Trump on NATO: deeply dangerous will dismay our closest Allies but great cheer in Kremlin: I can hear Vladimir Putin chortling from here.”
Donald Trump is no longer the “presumptive” Republican presidential nominee. He is it now and there is not much time left for him to brush up on something other than making a fortune and making a fool of himself by reviving old, outrageous accusations.
Lead image: The fabulous work of DonkeyHotey
