{"id":23815,"date":"2024-02-15T02:34:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T08:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23815"},"modified":"2024-02-15T02:34:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T08:34:19","slug":"donald-trump-stands-by-remarks-about-not-defending-nato-members-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23815","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump stands by remarks about not defending NATO members after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Former President Donald Trump<\/a> again said Wednesday that if he returns to the White House, he would not defend NATO members that don\u2019t meet defense spending targets, days after he set off alarms<\/a> in Europe by suggesting he would tell Russia to attack NATO allies<\/a> he considered delinquent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina, he retold the story of his alleged conversation<\/a> with the head of a NATO member country that had not met its obligations. This time, though, he left out the line that drew the most outrage \u2014 encouraging Russia \u201cto do whatever the hell they want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, if they\u2019re not going to pay, we\u2019re not going to protect. OK?\u201d he said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump hewed closer than usual to his prepared remarks after a freewheeling event days earlier in which he also drew backlash for mocking his Republican rival Nikki Haley\u2019s husband<\/a> for being missing from the campaign trail. He also revised his comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has often praised as tough and previously suggested treated him like the \u201capple of his eye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Trump cited an interview Putin gave Wednesday to Russian state television in which he said he would prefer Biden as president<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cPutin is not a fan of mine,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haley, Trump\u2019s former U.N. ambassador and his last major rival in the GOP presidential race, has been condemning Trump\u2019s remarks for days about her husband Michael Haley, who is deployed in Africa with the National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Wednesday insulted Nikki Haley and highlighted his wide lead in polls over her, but he focused more of his attention on President Joe Biden, whom he\u2019s expected to face in the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden has also excoriated Trump for his remarks about NATO<\/a>, calling them \u201cdangerous,\u201d \u201cun-American,\u201d and \u201cshocking.\u201d Biden has also pushed for a foreign aid package to assist Ukraine<\/a> as it fights Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has opposed the aid and said Wednesday that the U.S. should instead provide a loan to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy should you just hand it over to them?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also tried to explain away his remarks in January in which he repeatedly confused<\/a> Haley for former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drawing questions about his mental fitness. Both Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, face widespread questions among voters about their age and readiness for a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a Nikki fan and I\u2019m not a Pelosi fan and when I purposely interposed names they said, \u2018He didn\u2019t know Pelosi from Nikki, from Tricky Nikki,\u201d he said. \u201cNo no, I think they both stink. They have something in common.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Haley has had more campaign appearances lately than Trump, she did not appear at any events Wednesday. Don Bolduc, a Haley surrogate, failed New Hampshire Senate candidate and retired brigadier general, held a news conference earlier Wednesday aimed at Trump\u2019s criticism of Michael Haley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SFA Inc., the super PAC supporting Haley\u2019s campaign, has been playing its latest ad on a mobile billboard in the area of Trump\u2019s Wednesday night rally, a spot calling Trump \u201csick or clueless\u201d for criticizing the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s negativity toward Haley has ramped up as the season\u2019s votes have gotten underway and the campaign moved to her home state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month in New Hampshire, Trump essentially ruled Haley out as a potential running mate, saying she \u201cis not presidential timber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Wednesday night that his criticism of her means that \u201cshe will never be running for vice president,\u201d a comment that was met with loud cheers from the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Trump quickly pivoted to lavish praise on South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who dropped out of the presidential race in November<\/a>. Scott has been seen as a potential running mate for Trump, whom he endorsed and has campaigned for, including on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a much better candidate for me than you were for yourself,\u201d Trump told Scott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While serving as South Carolina\u2019s governor, Haley appointed Scott to the U.S. Senate in 2012. Her son, Nalin, has been introducing Haley at her events and several times referred to Scott as \u201cSen. Judas,\u201d a reference to the Biblical story of the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Former President Donald Trump again said Wednesday that if he returns to the White House, he would not defend NATO members that don\u2019t meet defense spending targets, days after he set off alarms in Europe by suggesting he would tell Russia to attack NATO allies he considered delinquent. Speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2107,1483,1835],"class_list":["post-23815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-donald","tag-he","tag-nato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23817,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23815\/revisions\/23817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}