Former President Donald Trump admitted on Thursday that he privately threatened to abdicate the United States' commitment to defend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally against hypothetical Russian aggression. Article 5 of the NATO charter states that "an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies."
But for Trump, NATO is nothing more than a cadre of mooching globalists who actually hate the US and are bound by a secret agenda to economically screw it.
"Everybody was delinquent. They didn't pay," Trump said of NATO nations in a speech at a Heritage Foundation conference on Amelia Island, Florida.
He frequently repeated this false claim – along with a laundry list of related lies – during his single term as an excuse to strip funding from NATO, a move that would have only benefitted Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump continued his disjointed (and unconfirmed) anecdote:
And they asked me, one of the presidents of the countries in a closed meeting, 28 countries at that time, they said, 'well sir, are you saying that if...' cause they knew I was very unhappy cause we were paying a very, very... we were paying for most of it in my opinion. But a very high amount. So we're defending Europe. At the same time, they rip us off on trade, very, very seriously rip us off.
And he said, 'does that mean you won't protect us in case, uh, we don't pay, uh, you won't protect us from Russia, was the Soviet Union now Russia?'
I said, 'that's exactly what it means.'
Now if I said, 'no I don't mean that,' then why would they pay? So somebody had to say it. I was amazed it didn't get out. I was amazed the fake news didn't pull it out. I dunno, maybe no one wanted to talk about it. I said, 'no that's exactly...' and the money started to flow in. And the secretary-general said, 'I never saw money like this in my life.'
Watch below via Ron Filipkowski:
Given Trump's animosity toward NATO, that conversation may have indeed taken place – although there is no way to verify it.
Plus, picturing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg supposedly drooling over Trump's money-grubbing strains the imagination.
In any case, Trump's tall tale was mocked and ridiculed on social media.
President Donald Trump Delivers Keynote Speech in Florida www.youtube.com
