Trump's Latest Blow to National Security
Trump's rhetoric endangers us all.
In a campaign speech in Conway, South Carolina on Saturday, February 10, Donald Trump delivered another blow to the security of the United States.
Pretending to be a macho tough guy, he bragged about telling a NATO member that if they didn't pay their bill he would invite an enemy combatant to invade them. Apologists like Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and others have said that Trump's words don't matter, that in the past he has always ended up backing NATO.
That defense is wrong. It could end up being dead wrong for a lot of people. Words can lead the head of an aggressive foreign nation to make a mistake. Diplomacy is a delicate art. The reason diplomats choose their words with care is that mistakes can be deadly.
Of course, there's always the possibility that Trump's words were not a mistake, that he meant them. Jim Sciutto, in his soon to be published book "The Return of Great Powers," tells of Trump issuing orders to that effect in 2018. According to Sciutto, a former senior aide told him that Trump had issued orders to withdraw to General Mark Milley, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and Mark Esper, former Secretary of Defense. Trump reportedly reversed those orders later, but going by his current rhetoric, this is still his mindset.
Rachel Maddow discussed this at length in her show on February 12. She point's out that Trump's statement came two days after Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson. Putin claimed to have no designs on Poland, which he mentioned more than 30 times, or other NATO countries. This is the same denial of intent that he expressed before he invaded Ukraine. It was two days later that Trump related his story about telling a country's leader that "I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want."
After 9/11, all the NATO countries came to our assistance. They didn't quibble about who paid what. This is a security bulwark for the United States as much as for any European country. What Donald Trump said opened the door of expectation on Russia's part if he becomes president. It makes the world a more dangerous place for all of us.
NATO was founded after World War II for the purpose of discouraging bad actors and for mutual security. Those of us who are old enough had fathers who were in the thick of that war, or mothers who worked on aircraft assembly lines or were pilots ferrying all types of planes. They sacrificed so we could be more secure.
No failed politician who lacks comprehension of the meaning of that sacrifice has the right to destroy what our parents and grandparents fought for. No presidential candidate who green lights a foreign aggressor should ever be considered for the Oval Office. It's time to fire Donald Trump all over again.
Notes:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-comments-urging-russia-to-invade-delinquent-nato-members
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/us-out-nato-second-trump-term-former-senior-adviser/index.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marco-rubio-trump-russia-attack-nato-allies-1234966221/
https://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/female-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls