As Donald Trump sticks to his belligerent threat to support Russia in a potential military stand-off with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) if they fall short of ostensible spending obligations, Quinnipiac University polling has found a large share of Americans (specifically, registered voters) supportive instead of continued U.S. alignment with the alliance.
Sixty-seven percent of participating registered voters said that it was closest to their views that “NATO plays an important role in global security and the U.S. should remain a member of NATO.” Among electorally important independents, the share was a percentage point higher!
Since Trump left office, members of Congress and President Joe Biden have established a new legal block on a president withdrawing the U.S. on their own from NATO, but some still worry that Trump, should he regain the presidency, could undercut the U.S. position, including through going after funding.
“We have a long struggle ahead of us, and the obvious point to make about Donald Trump is take him literally and seriously,” Trump’s one-time election challenger Hillary Clinton recently said at a European conference, as highlighted earlier by NBC News, adding: “People did not take him literally and seriously in 2016. Now he is telling us what he intends to do, and people who try to wish it away, brush it away, are living in an alternative reality.”
The condemnation for Trump’s suggestion of supporting Russia has been extensive, though he reshared roughly the same stance after his initial commentary at a rally. He claimed to attendees that he’d shared the position in interactions with a fellow world leader when still in power. “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough doubted the discussions ever happened. The spending that Trump seemingly tries to reference is outlined by a long-term agreement covering domestic spending on national defense among members of the organization. The funds aren’t organizational dues, as Trump seems to suggest.
