Donald Trump has suggested that as US president he would encourage Russia to attack American military allies who do not spend enough on defence, in a significant escalation of his rhetoric against the NATO alliance.
As the former president edges closer to winning the Republican presidential nomination, he has also vowed to embark on the biggest migrant deportation program in US history, crack down on “transgender insanity” and cut funding for schools teaching about systemic racism in America.
The comments were made during an incendiary speech at a campaign rally in South Carolina, which the White House described as “unhinged” and critics viewed as startling, even by Trump’s often inflammatory standards.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters – as well as to Republican members of Congress who are set to vote on whether to provide more aid to Ukraine – Trump described a meeting during which he claimed to have responded to an ally about NATO funding and suggested Russia could attack at will if member countries didn’t pay their share.
“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?,’” he told the crowd at Coastal Carolina University.
“I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
Trump has long been critical of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and what he sees as a financial burden that the US pays to assist in the defence of the 30 other nations involved.
The alliance – whose members include the UK, Poland, France and Germany – is bound under Article 5 of its treaty to retaliate if any other member nation is attacked.
In response to Trump’s comments, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that any attack on the alliance would be met with a “united and forceful response.”
“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,” he said.
“I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election, the US will remain a strong and committed NATO ally.”
Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz also hit back, writing on social media: “NATO’s motto ‘one for all, all for one’ is a concrete commitment… No election campaign is an excuse for playing with the security of the alliance.”
And European Council President Charles Michael warned: “Reckless statements on NATO’s security and Art[icle] 5 solidarity serve only Putin’s interest. They do not bring more security or peace to the world.”
Trump’s latest South Carolina rally took place two weeks before the Republican primary contest in that state, where he remains the overwhelming favourite to beat his only remaining rival, Nikki Haley.
But the comments suggesting Russia should attack US allies who don’t pay their share were only some of the former president’s scaled-up rhetoric over the weekend.
Days after Republicans sunk a once bipartisan bill designed to stem the number of migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, Trump highlighted his own plan to tackle the crisis.
According to his advisers, such a program would involve rounding up undocumented immigrants already in the US – many of them in sanctuary cities such as New York, Washington DC and Chicago – and placing them in detention camps to await deportation.
Earlier his speech, Trump bragged about how Republicans “crushed crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous open border bill.”
Had the bill passed last week, it would have given US authorities the power to bar migrants from crossing the border if crossings rose above 5000 on average per day on a given week, or 8500 in a single day.
The former president also received enthusiastic cheers when he told the crowd that if elected, he would sign an executive order “on day one” to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory (which examines systemic racism in American public policy), transgender insanity, and inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the lives of our children.”
“It’s hardworking patriots like you who are going to save our country,” he told the mostly white crowd in South Carolina, a state with a dark history of slavery, and where black people now make up one in four residents.
“We will fight for America like no one has ever fought before. 2024 is our final battle.”
