NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–July 21, 2016. Last night, Donald Trump made some of his most alarming comments yet, suggesting he might turn his back on our NATO allies if Putin invaded them. It was a concession that further underscored the remarkable threat a Trump presidency would pose to our national security. The stances he outlined were so dangerous that the Secretary General of NATO felt compelled to issue a statement rebuking him:
- NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg: “I will not interfere in the U.S. election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO. Solidarity among Allies is a key value for NATO. Two world wars have shown that peace in Europe is also important for the security of the United States.”
He wasn’t alone – leaders from our NATO allies, foreign policy experts, and even top Republicans spoke up to make clear how disastrous the Trump doctrine is:
- Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “I think he’s wrong on that.”
- Sen. Lindsey Graham: “Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the United States less safe. If Mr. Trump is serious about wanting to be commander-in-chief he needs to better understand the job which is to provide leadership for the United States and the free world…. I’m 100 percent certain how Russian President Putin feels — he’s a very happy man.”
- Sen. Marco Rubio: “If he doesn’t [change his mind] we’ll obviously have to oppose that, because if Article 5 is in doubt, then the whole NATO alliance could collapse.”
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran, called Trump’s comments “a disaster” and said he wasn’t sure he could vote for Trump.
- Estonian Foreign Ministry: “Estonia’s commitment to our NATO obligations is beyond doubt and so should be the commitments by others.”
- Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics: “We take our commitments seriously. We hope and expect that all our allies, big and small, take their commitments the same.”
- US Ambassador to the UN under George W. Bush, John Bolton: “When an American leader says ‘I’ll look at what the situation is after the Russians attack,’ that is an open invitation to Vladimir Putin. When he (Putin) reads this kind of statement, it’s an encouragement to him. We’re not deterring him, we’re in effect giving him a free hand.”
- U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO under George W. Bush, Nicholas Burns: “Trump refusal to defend NATO allies abdicates six decades US leadership. Gift to Putin. Deplorable and disqualifying.”
- Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul: “Has Trump actually studied the Reagan era? Reagan would NEVER have threatened our NATO allies in Europe. We have had decades of bipartisan commitment to NATO, which has made it the greatest alliance in history. Trump is now threatening that.”
- Admiral James Stavridis: “[Trump’s] reckless proposals would deeply damage the underpinnings of the global system and work to America’s profound disadvantage.”
- Conservative foreign policy expert Max Boot: “Say what you will about @HillaryClinton, she’s not giving Putin green light to attack NATO allies.”
- Republican consultant Mike Murphy: “Trump has to clean up his foreign policy comments or he’s going to pay a price”
- Conservative foreign policy columnist Eli Lake: “Today it’s the Republican nominee who would let Putin get away with an invasion of Ukraine. He’s not even sure whether he would stand up to the Kremlin if Putin invaded a member of NATO.”
- Conservative pundit Jennifer Rubin: Trump “simultaneously denigrated the United States…, demonstrated his jaw-dropping ignorance and fueled concerns that there is some fishy connection between the Trump team and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
- Conservative pundit Noah Rothman: “Trump’s reckless endangerment of American interests in Europe is no longer conspicuous; it’s disqualifying. In the zero-sum game of geopolitics, it long ago became crystal clear that Russia’s national interests and America’s national interests are mutually exclusive. So just whose side is Donald Trump on?”
- Conservative pundit Josh Barro: “This interview is an invitation for Russia to invade the Baltic states, potentially starting a world war. This man cannot be entrusted with the presidency.”
- Foreign policy columnist, Fred Kaplan: “If Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping read the New York Times on Thursday morning, they must be hoping and praying for the election of Donald Trump. And if serious Republicans read the same paper, they must be sickened with fear—if they weren’t nauseated already—that their party’s presidential nominee is a threat to national security.”
- Foreign policy columnist, Jeffrey Goldberg: “The Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe, marginalizing NATO, and ending America’s reign as the world’s sole superpower.”
Source: http://www.hillaryclinton.com
