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Biden forcefully condemns Trump’s NATO comments as ‘un-American’
May 13, 2024 - 10:08 PM |
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| <p><p>President Biden on Tuesday forcefully condemned as “un-American” comments by former president Donald Trump in which he said he would encourage Russia to invade NATO allies if those countries did not spend enough money on defense.</p></p><p><p>Biden delivered the remarks Tuesday to urge Congress to pass a $95 billion national security package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies. The Senate passed the bill early Tuesday morning, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has already rejected the package.</p></p><p><p>Speaking from the White House, Biden said Trump’s comments had sent a dangerous and “shameful” signal to the world. Biden was referring to a speech Trump had given at a campaign rally in South Carolina in which he imagined a NATO country asking if the United States would protect them from a Russian attack if they didn’t pay.</p></p><p><p>“I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you,” Trump told the crowd then. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”</p></p><p><p>The worst part of Trump’s speech, Biden said Tuesday, was that “he means it.”</p></p><p><p>“Can you imagine a former president of United States saying that? The whole world heard it,” Biden said. “No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will. For God’s sake, it’s dumb. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American.”</p></p><p><p>Biden said Trump did not understand that the NATO alliance was a “sacred commitment” the United States had made.</p></p><p><p>“Donald Trump looks at this as if it’s a burden. When he looks at NATO, he doesn’t see the alliance that protects America and the world. He sees a protection racket,” Biden said. “He doesn’t understand that NATO’s built on fundamental principles of freedom, security and national sovereignty. Because for Trump, principles never matter. Everything is transactional.”</p></p><p><p>Biden also noted that NATO’s Article 5 - which states that an armed attack against one or more NATO country “shall be considered an attack against them all” - has only been invoked once, and it was to stand with the United States after the 9/11 attacks.</p></p><p><p>America’s adversaries have long wished for the NATO alliance to fall apart, the president added.</p></p><p><p>“You can be sure that they all cheered when they heard Donald Trump and heard what he said. I know this: I will not walk away. I can’t imagine any other president walking away,” he said. “For as long as I’m president, if [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin attacks a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.”</p></p><p><p>Asked for comment on Biden’s remarks, the Trump campaign pointed to a statement from the weekend by Trump adviser Jason Miller.</p></p><p><p>Miller derided concerns about Trump’s NATO comments as worry by “Democrat and media pearl-clutchers” and said that Trump had been effective in getting NATO countries to “pay up” when he was president.</p></p><p><p>“When you don’t pay your defense spending you can’t be surprised that you get more war,” Miller said.</p></p><p><p>Repeatedly on Tuesday, Biden said that history was watching what Congress would do.</p></p><p><p>“Our nation stands at an inflection point, an inflection point in history where the decisions we make now are going to determine the course of our future for decades to come,” Biden said. “I say to the House members, House Republicans, you got to decide: Are you going to stand up for freedom or are you going to side with terror and tyranny? Are you going to stand with Ukraine or are you going to stand with Putin? Will you stand with America or Trump?”</p></p> Read full story... | ||