He wanted out during his time as President….
He was talked out of it….
A second try would be a harder push to have members ‘buy’ US presence….
Remember ?
Russian President Putin is NOT a enemy to him….
Donald Trump wanted to pull the United States out of NATO during his first term, but was repeatedly talked out of it by senior administration officials. For a possible second term in the White House, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner is already discussing how he could actually get it done, if his demands aren’t met by NATO. He and his policy-wonk allies are also gaming out how he could dramatically wind down American involvement to merely a “standby” position in NATO, in Trump’s own words.
When the former president has privately discussed the United States’ role in the transatlantic military alliance this year, Trump has made clear that he doesn’t want the upper ranks of a second administration to be staffed by “NATO lovers,” according to two sources who’ve heard him make such comments. The ex-president has made these kinds of jabs at the longstanding alliance during conversations related to the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.
Trump, the sources say, has continued to express an openness to pulling the U.S. out of NATO altogether. However, Trump has suggested that this could be averted if the alliance — which Trump once famously called “obsolete” — gives in to his newest demands. This would include his desires for non-American members to further and steeply increase their defense spending, and for a reevaluation of the bedrock principle that an attack on one member is tantamount to an attack on all….
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“In a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from NATO,” Bolton predicted to The Hill in August.
The issue has taken on new urgency as Trump has ratched up his antagonism both towards European allies and the Ukrainian government in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the country in February 2022.
“The good old USA ‘suckers’ are paying a VAST majority of the NATO bill, & outside money, going to Ukraine. VERY UNFAIR!” Trump bellowed on his Truth Social platform in January.
During an August town hall interview with Fox News, Trump bragged that he had told NATO members “I will not protect you from Russia,” if they were “delinquent” in defense spending.
The former president’s continued irritation at NATO allies and his growing agitation against U.S. military aid to Ukraine, which has sought to join the alliance, has ratched up fears that Trump would make good on his threats to leave the alliance if he wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election….
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That prospect prompted the Senate to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act over the summer. The legislation, introduced by Senators Time Kaine and Marco Rubio, would prohibit any future president from withdrawing from NATO without the approval of two thirds of the Senate….
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While Trump may find it more difficult to formally leave NATO if the legislation becomes law, he would still be able to undermine the credibility of U.S. security guarantees to other member states.
“He still wants out,” says one Trump adviser….
“Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday submitted a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid to parliament for ratification, a move welcomed by Stockholm as it clears the way for it to join the Western defense alliance,” Reuters reports.
There was a time Repiwoiod care about this.
Republicans
If they pay HIM he’d have America stay!