
As GOP presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump continues to lay out his platform for a second term in the White House, he has addressed some policies surrounding international affairs — including his belief that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should be required to pay their fair share to support the alliance.
During one recent campaign rally, he recalled a conversation with a leader from another NATO nation regarding his response to countries that fell behind on their payments.
“You didn’t pay?” Trump asked. “You’re delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You’ve got to pay. You’ve got to pay your bills.”
While the remarks resonated among Trump supporters who believe America has been carrying most of the load for NATO since its inception, a number of media figures described his rhetoric as dangerous.
One of those voices is a mainstay on Fox News who weighed in on the debate during a segment of “Special Report” on Monday.
Chief political analyst Brit Hume was asked by anchor Bret Baier for his reaction to a piece by the Wall Street Journal editorial board that accused Trump of “dot[ing] on dictators.”
While Hume did not go as far as some leftist commentators in denouncing Trump’s remarks, he complained that the former president was not showing enough support for NATO allies.
“My guess about that, Bret, was it is typical Trump loose talk,” he said. “My guess is that he meant that as a way of threatening the NATO allies that haven’t paid their full freight to which they are supposedly committed and have said they would pay and they’re not doing it, all of them. A lot of them are but some of them are not and so he’s trying to get them to pony up. But loose talk about possibly not backing up our NATO allies in the event of an attack from an enemy, particularly including Russia, is not helpful.”
Hume’s critique was echoed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining serious rival in the primary race.
NATO has been a 75-year success story. There hasn’t been war in the region because of NATO. It is a massive mistake for Donald Trump to side with a thug like Putin over our allies and it will put troops in harm’s way. pic.twitter.com/LerAtG5jQp
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 12, 2024
For his part, however, Trump took the opportunity to tout his own record regarding NATO, asserting in a social media post on Monday that he strengthened the international alliance.
“When I told the 20 Countries that weren’t paying their fair share that they had to PAY UP and said without doing that you will not have U.S. Military Protection, the money came rolling in,” he wrote.