On Monday, in a disturbing new report, The New York Times revealed that several senior administration officials had told them that our so-called “president” had expressed numerous times that he intends to withdraw from NATO.
According to the Times:
‘Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.
‘In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States.’
Trump’s continued threats to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has many senior officials concerned for our national security, and rightfully so, as Trump has gone to great lengths in recent months to keep his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin a secret, even confiscating notes from interpreters who were present during those meetings.
The Times also reported:
‘A move to withdraw from the alliance, in place since 1949, “would be one of the most damaging things that any president could do to U.S. interests,” said Michèle A. Flournoy, an undersecretary of defense under President Barack Obama.
‘“It would destroy 70-plus years of painstaking work across multiple administrations, Republican and Democratic, to create perhaps the most powerful and advantageous alliance in history,” Ms. Flournoy said in an interview. “And it would be the wildest success that Vladimir Putin could dream of.”’
Considering that the FBI opened an investigation into whether or not Trump was a Russian agent, Ms. Flournoy’s fears are totally legitimate.
With all of this in mind, on Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that will prohibit Trump from withdrawing the United States from NATO without the approval of the Senate.
Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stressed how crucial the alliance with NATO is, with Senator Kaine stating:
‘President Trump’s repeated threats to withdraw from NATO are dangerous. Our NATO allies have fought alongside our troops since World War II, yet President Trump disparages these nations and cozies up to our adversaries.’
In addition to Senators Kaine and Rubio, other members who came forward to introduce this bill were Cory Gardner (R-CO), Jack Reed (D-RI), Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Susan Collins (R-ME).
Rubio said in a statement:
‘NATO is more important than ever with Russia’s growing subversive activities in the region and beyond. It is critical to our national security and the security of our allies in Europe that the United States remain engaged and play an active role in NATO.’
Trump’s behavior is becoming more and more reckless, and it is even more clear now than ever that he doesn’t have this country’s best interests in mind. Let’s hope that this bill is successfully passed and quickly.
Featured image via Flickr.
