‘Stupid thing to say’: Republicans divided on Trump threat to violate Nato defence pledge

Donald Trump gave another sign that he would oversee the disintegration of the Nato alliance Saturday evening in South Carolina, but his comments were met by a collective shrug from his party, even among those once considered to be some of the strongest defence hawks in Washington.

“If we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” Trump claimed to remember a Nato member-state’s leader asking him when he was president. He then claimed to have responded: “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

Mr Trump’s remarks were not the first to throw into question the future of one of the world’s most significant and consequential military alliances, one that saw countries come to the US’s aid after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But they were his most plain-spoken threat so far: A stunning vow to encourage and support Russian military action against Nato members who did not meet the alliances benchmarks for defence spending.

The reaction from Nato itself was swift.

“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,” said Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

But it drew cheers from the crowd at his Conway, South Carolina rally, where the former president is seeking to deliver a deathblow to the campaign of Nikki Haley in the former UN ambassador’s home state. Ms Haley, a traditional conservative on the issue of national defence, is a strong supporter of Nato, and attacked Mr Trump in a statement after he disparaged her husband’s military service at the same event.

Ms Haley addressed her rival’s threat to the Nato defence pact on Sunday, appearing on Face the Nation: “[W]hat bothers me about this is, don’t take the side of a thug who kills his opponents. Don’t take the side of someone who has gone in and invaded a country and half a million people have died or been wounded because of Putin.”

In DC, however, similar denunciations of Mr Trump’s rhetoric were few and far between among members of the House and Senate GOP.

Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, even went as far as brushing off the former president’s remarks as bluster during his interview with CNN.

“Donald Trump was president, and he didn’t pull us out of Nato,” Mr Rubio noted, adding: “I have zero concern.”

The strongest criticism came from a surprising source: Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator known for his own isolationist leanings and skepticism of America’s military footprint.

“Stupid thing to say,” he told The Independent.

“I agree with with Trump that they don’t pay enough they should pay more but saying that they should be invaded by Russia,” is not wise, Mr Paul said.

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran, criticised Mr Trump’s words.

“That’s horrible,” she told The Independent.

Iowa’s senior Senator Chuck Grassley also criticised the sentiment without specifically mentioning Mr Trump.

“No American should do anything to appease Russia,” he told The Independent. Mr Grassley and Ms Ernst have not endorsed Mr Trump despite the fact he overwhelmingly won the Iowa caucuses last month, shattering records.

But other Republicans brushed off his remarks and insisted the United States would live up to its commitments.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a staunch supporter of Mr Trump who led the charge to object to the 2020 presidential election results, said Mr Trump was correct in saying that Nato countries did not pay their fair share.

“Seriously, they need to do more, but obviously we don’t want Russia to invade,” he told The Independent. “If they invaded a Nato country, we’d have to defend them, so we don’t want that.”

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas brushed off critiques of Mr Trump’s rhetoric.

“What I know is he’ll secure the border, he’s going to make this country safer, he’s going to hold Nato accountable,” he told The Independent. “And I think that people need to realize that like, you should take everything that he says seriously, but not literally.”

The split epitomises a larger divide within the Republican. Mr McConnell, a longtime supporter of Ukraine, hoped to pass aid to Ukraine earlier, which led to prolonged negotiations between Senator James Lankford representing Republicans and Independent Senator Kyrsten of Arizona and Chris Murphy of Connecticut representing Democrats to negotiate border security measures in exchange for aid to Ukraine and Israel.

The trio came to an agreement last weekend but Mr Trump’s oppoisition to the package effectively killed it.

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Mr Trump was trying to recall a story.

“ And I’m sure that he was recounting the story,” he told reporters. “They say he’s had with people, you know, he turns to use a little flourish and his comments, but his point about them paying their fair share is well taken by me.”

Larry Hogan, the popular two-term former governor of Maryland who surprised some in DC this past week by announcing a late-in-the-game bid for a Senate seat held by the retiring Democratic senior senator from his state, Ben Cardin. That race remains a likely hold for Democrats in the fall, but Mr Hogan’s prominence in the state could make it a competitive race.

Mr Hogan has long been one of Mr Trump’s loudest critics in the GOP. On Sunday, he pledged to support Nato in the Senate were he to be elected in the fall; Maryland, which is home to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, is home to many military families and civil service employees and is just about the last place Nato skepticism will win Mr Trump any supporters.

The reactions of Mr Hogan and Senator Rubio hint at a line of thinking among Republicans that was prevalent among many of Mr Trump’s private detractors througout the Trump presidency. Many who disagreed with some or most of Mr Trump’s policies especially related to foreign policy and the military relied on the ex-president’s advisers like Gens. Jim Mattis and Mark Milley to rein him in and impede his more controversial orders (such as a demand for the complete withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan by December of his final year as president).

Democrats for their part vocally criticised Mr Trump’s words on Nato. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania criticised the fact that people criticised President Joe Biden’s poor memory after a report by special counsel Robert Hur said Mr Biden could not recall the year his eldest son died and that it received more attention than Mr Trump’s words.

“Let’s talk about some bulls*** political hit in that ridiculous kind of report,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told reporters on Sunday and said more attention needed to be paid to Mr Trump goading Mr Putin. “And let’s just talk about the outrage and how astonishing it is that somebody that could be president would say that kinds of a thing, you know, is is the bar that low where we can just roll our eyes and not ignore that.”

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also criticised Mr Trump and Republicans.

“I don’t think any of my colleagues would stand up and say in our let Russia attack on our allies because they haven’t paid the rent,” Mr Reed told The Independent. “I mean, it’s ridiculous, this is just preposterous that he says these things.”

The back-and-forth came as the Senate voted to proceed on a security package that would provide aid to Israel and Ukraine amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine.