Aiexpress – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has predicted that if Donald Trump reclaims the presidency later this year, the United States will withdraw from NATO.
“He actually means what he says. Back in 2016, people didn’t take him seriously or literally,” cautioned Clinton, 76, during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. She was referring to her unexpected loss to the 45th president eight years ago.
“If given the opportunity, he will exert every effort to establish himself as an absolute authoritarian leader,” she warned. “Furthermore, he will withdraw our country from NATO.”
During a rally in Conway, SC, Trump, 77, caused quite a stir with his remarks. He proudly declared that he had informed the president of a major country that he would not support NATO members who fail to meet their defense spending commitments.
“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recounted telling the leader. “In fact, I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
During his presidency, Trump openly criticized NATO members who failed to meet the 2006 commitment of spending 2% of their gross domestic product on national defense.
In the aftermath of Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine, several countries within the 31-nation bloc are increasing their defense spending.
According to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Donald Trump’s political rallies do not necessarily align with his actual policies. Turner pointed out that when examining Trump’s record and policies, it becomes clear that he increased funding for NATO, boosted the European Reassurance Initiative, and notably became the first president to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine. Turner believes that Trump’s record speaks for itself and is a testament to his strong stance on these matters.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, there have been discussions among Trump’s allies about the idea of dividing NATO into two tiers. The first tier would consist of countries that meet the spending commitment and would receive security guarantees under Article 5. On the other hand, the second tier would include countries that do not fulfill their financial obligations.
According to the NATO treaty, if one member of the alliance is attacked, all other members are obligated to provide assistance. This provision has been activated just once, in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
In the previous year, Congress included a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that limits the ability of a president to withdraw from NATO without obtaining approval from Congress.
Clinton mused that such a policy wouldn’t be enough to stop Trump, suggesting he “will just not fund our obligations.”
President Biden, 81, chastised Trump last week for his remarks at a rally.
“The former president has sent a dangerous, and shockingly, frankly, un-American signal to the world. Just a few days ago, Trump gave an invitation to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to invade some of our NATO allies,” Biden said at the time.
Clinton pondered the idea that implementing such a policy alone would not be sufficient to prevent Trump from carrying out his plans. She suggested that he would simply choose not to allocate funds for our obligations.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also stated that Trump’s remarks “undermine” the defense alliance, but later voiced confidence that the United States “will continue to be a committed NATO ally” regardless of the election results.
“The whole idea of NATO is that an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance and as long as we stand behind that message together, we prevent any military attack on any ally,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
According to Stoltenberg, 18 of the 31 members are either at or will soon reach the 2% level.
