Former President Donald Trump’s two main 2024 opponents on either side of the aisle are forcefully condemning his recent suggestion that he would encourage Russia to attack delinquent NATO allies, even as several Republicans in Congress appeared to brush off the remark in recent days. 

What You Need To Know

  • Several Republicans in Congress are brushing off Trump's comment
  • Trump set off alarms across Europe when he said he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO member countries that do not contribute enough to military spending

“When you hear Donald Trump say in South Carolina a week ago that he would encourage Putin to invade our allies if they weren’t pulling their weight – that’s bone-chilling,” GOP Presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview with ABC on Sunday. “Because all he did in that one moment was empower Putin.”

Trump set off alarms across Europe when he said he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO member countries that do not contribute enough to military spending. 

Last week, the former president twice doubled down on his comment, reiterating at a campaign rally and again outside a hearing for the Manhattan criminal case against him that he would not defend NATO member countries of the alliance that do not meet defense spending targets. 

The criticism of the comment from Haley – Trump’s last remaining well-known challenger for the 2024 GOP nomination – follows President Joe Biden’s sharp and swift rebuke of his predecessor’s NATO outlook. 

Biden, who looks poised to win his party’s 2024 nomination and potentially face Trump in November – called the former president’s words “dumb,” “shameful,” “dangerous,” and “un-American” from the White House last week. His reelection team even launched an ad highlighting the remarks in battleground states with a large population of Americans from NATO countries that border Russia. 

At the same time, several Republicans on Capitol Hill are defending the former president, even as many condemn Russia’s actions. 

Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., argued that while he is not “inviting Russia to invade Ukraine,” Trump is “right” to want NATO nations to meet military spending targets.  

“They should pay up; 19 of 31 NATO nations do not contribute 2 percent of GDP,” Graham said, referring to the defense spending level set by the alliance. “I want to have a system where, if you don't pay, you get kicked out.

“We need to turn it into an obligation that means something,” he added. 

South Carolina’s other Republican senator, Tim Scott, accused Biden of “dragging his feet” when it comes to the conflict when asked about Trump’s comment, declining to criticize the former president despite saying a few months ago that “Keeping our NATO partners safe from the Russian military is absolutely essential.”

“What we need is strong American leadership. And when we have that, what ultimately happens is in fact world peace,” Scott said. “The fastest, most effective way for us to get there is to look at the four years when Donald Trump was our president and ask the question, how was Eastern Europe?”

Meanwhile, in the House, Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who is in favor of additional U.S. aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, made the case that Trump is “very, very strong in his support for NATO” in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. 

“When Donald Trump was president he actually increased funding to NATO itself,” Turner said. “He continues to push countries to – to fully fund, to meet the 2% commitment that each of them have.”

“This is what I know. Donald Trump's political rallies don't really translate into Donald Trump's actual policies,” he added. 

The defense of Trump follows that of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who argued on CNN’s “State of the Union” last weekend in the immediate aftermath of the comment that he has “zero concern” about the former president’s comment because he has “been president before.” 

“I know exactly what he has done and will do with the NATO alliance,” Rubio said. But there has to be an alliance.”

“Frankly, look, Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He doesn't talk like a traditional politician,” he said. “And we have already been through this now. You would think people had figured it out by now.”

Late last year, Rubio pushed for the passage of a joint-resolution requiring any president to withdraw from NATO without taking the issue to the senate.