Donald Trump’s hostility toward NATO was unsubtle before this week, but it’s significantly worse now. Indeed, the former president declared at a rally on Sunday that he not only threatened U.S. allies in the alliance, he was also prepared to “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to a NATO member.
The public comments sent shockwaves through international circles, but the anguish wasn’t limited to foreign officials. Politico reported:
Congress needs to take new steps to protect NATO after Donald Trump said he would “encourage” Russia to attack member countries that don’t meet their financial commitments, several Democratic senators said Monday. The former president’s comments raised fresh concerns among NATO supporters that Trump could still dramatically undermine the pact without withdrawing if he returns to the White House next year. And allies who have reassured themselves that Trump can’t do anything radical if reelected need to be on watch.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “Everyone should be scared as hell.” The Maryland Democrat added, “Anybody who cares about American leadership, anyone who cares about protecting democracy, anybody who wants to take on authoritarians around the world should be scared to death by the fact that Donald Trump is telling us that if he was reelected president, he would throw our NATO allies to [Vladimir] Putin.”
The good news is Congress approved a new measure in December designed to prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without congressional approval. In theory, this appeared to be a step that would tie Trump’s hands.
The bad news is that this was a modest step, not an iron-clad policy. It’s not hard to imagine a hypothetical scenario in which Trump effectively declares, “We’re not formally withdrawing from NATO, but I’ve decided not to honor our commitments under the alliance.”
The Politico report added that the Republican “could refuse to appoint a U.S. ambassador to NATO headquarters in Brussels, or order U.S. military commanders to dial back exercises with their NATO counterparts. He could even refuse to come to a country’s aid if it’s attacked.” There appears to be significant new support among Senate Democrats to effectively Trump-proof the United States’ role in the alliance, but such efforts face all of the usual challenges: Legislation would need to be able to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate, and then somehow pass a GOP-led House. That said, the likely Republican nominee has jolted those who care about NATO, leaving the door open to possible changes ahead of Election Day 2024. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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