Trump: “I made NATO strong” | EUROtoday

Status: 02:09 a.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

NAfter a storm of indignation over his assertion that he wouldn’t defend defaulting NATO allies within the occasion of re-election, former President Donald Trump has now defended himself. “I made NATO strong,” Trump wrote on Monday (native time) within the on-line service he based, Truth Social. “When I told the 20 countries that had not paid their (…) share that they had to pay because otherwise they would not receive military protection from the USA, the money started flowing,” mentioned the Republican.

After the United States had “paid the bill” for thus a few years, this was “a beautiful sight.” “But now that I'm no longer there to say, 'You have to pay,' they're starting again,” the previous president continued.

Trump, who has a very good probability of operating towards President Joe Biden within the presidential election in November, had already accused European NATO companions in his first time period of workplace of investing too little cash in protection and permitting themselves to be protected on the expense of the USA.

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On Saturday, Trump reported on an unspecified assembly with NATO companions at a rally within the US state of South Carolina: “One of the presidents of a major country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we don't pay up and we get attacked by Russia 'Then will you protect us?'”. Trump responded by saying that in this case he would not protect the country and would even encourage Russia to do “whatever they want” with him.

The statement caused strong international criticism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that “any relativization of NATO’s guarantee of assistance is irresponsible and dangerous.” Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the statements as “irresponsible” and playing into Russia’s hands. US President Joe Biden called Trump's words “horrific and harmful.”