Trump's frightening invitation to Putin: Invade our allies who don't pay their share of NATO
Donald Trump, being the blowhard that he is, occasionally, or more often, unleashes a mouth full that either makes him look stupid or scares the ever-loving bejabbers out of us.
But over the weekend he outdid even himself, by inviting Russia to invade U.S. allies in NATO. Reported the Wall Street Journal:
The unusual and immediate responses came after Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday, said he would encourage Russia to attack NATO countries that don’t pay enough into the alliance.
Trump, invoking a scenario in which a country not paying more were to be attacked by Russia, said, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
Say what?
The threat, of course, drew quick and unusually frank responses from some of our European allies, as it should. Ever since the end of World War II, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been the bulwark against Soviet aggression and more recently Vladimir Putin’s insanity.
Grant that some of our European allies have been slow to fund NATO as they have promised; that’s, at best, insulting, and at worst weakens the alliance more than Trump’s big mouth.
But it brings back First Term Trump, when you didn’t know what unexpected, but worse, dangerous, thing he might say. The latest makes him look as dangerous as Joe Biden.
Dennis Byrne is a former Chicago journalist, author and freelance writer. Email: dennis@dennisbyrne.net