President Donald Trump has accused European NATO allies of taking “advantage” of American taxpayers who are funding the alliance.
In an interview with British populist leader Nigel Farage, Trump said NATO nations in Europe are relying on U.S. taxpayers to protect them while refusing to pay their “fair share.”
As Trump noted, America pays a disproportional amount to fund the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, far more than European nations that live under the threat of Russian invasion.
Trump has recently drawn the ire of the international corporate media and globalist politicians.
Last month, the 45th president suggested that he may not honor Article 5 of the NATO treaty when he returns to the White House.
Article 5 requires all signatories to come to the defense of another if they come under attack.
Trump recounted a story during a South Carolina campaign stop of a conversation with an unnamed European leader.
Trump said he informed the leader that he would not send American soldiers to die on their behalf if the nation refused to meet their NATO spending obligations.
He joked that he would even let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” under such a scenario.
While NATO insiders understood the comments for the warning they were, the comments were interpreted by Democrats and their allies in the corporate media as an attack on the NATO alliance itself.
As Slay News reported, Democrats, propped up by the media, twisted the statement by claiming Trump called on Russia to launch an attack against NATO allies.
Touching on the press furor, Trump told Farage in an interview for GB News:
“What I’m saying is a form of negotiation.
“Why should we guard these countries that have a lot of money [while] the United States was paying for most of NATO?
“When I went there, I had already had it out with them [in the past].
“They then stopped paying again. But now they’re paying because of those comments that you saw two, three weeks ago [from me]. I don’t know if you know, but a lot of money’s come in since those comments were made.”
Trump said that “billions of dollars came flowing in after he delivered the message: “We’re not going to defend you if you’re not paying your bills.”
“NATO became strong because of me. Now NATO has to treat the US fairly because if it wasn’t for the United States, NATO wouldn’t even exist. They took advantage of us like most countries do,” he explained.
'Why should we guard these countries that have a lot of money?'
Donald Trump has said America will stay in NATO if he wins at the polls and members pay their fair share.
Watch @Nigel_Farage's full interview tonight from 7pm, only on GB News. pic.twitter.com/Si5eDbTjs6
— GB News (@GBNEWS) March 19, 2024
Trump has long been critical of NATO members failing to pay their dues to the alliance, particularly wealthy nations like Germany.
Instead, those nations choose to spend their riches on lavish welfare and healthcare systems as well as on handouts to alleged “asylum seekers.”
Meanwhile, they rely on American taxpayers to foot the bill for their defense.
In 2018, for example, Trump accused Germany and others of being held “captive” by Russia.
He said they were paying Moscow billions in exchange for natural gas.
At the same time, those same countries demanded American protection from Vladimir Putin.
Trump told Farage:
“NATO was not paying, I went to the first meeting early in my administration and I saw what was going on and I said ‘you’re gonna have to pay your bills everybody.’
“Then at the second meeting, I hit them hard.”
Trump’s tough talk towards European allies was then, like now, treated by corporate media as a threat to the alliance itself.
However, in 2019, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg credited the president’s tough stance as being a key element in the alliance securing an additional $100 billion in spending from European nations and Canada.
More recently, the former head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency — the rough equivalent of the CIA — Sir Richard Dearlove praised Trump’s stance toward NATO.
In an interview last week, Dearlove said: “I approve of what Trump did in calling out NATO in his first term, and particularly the Germans.
“If the Germans really start spending seriously on rearming — which they should be doing because of the size of their economy — that would be totally transformative.”
Trump said in the interview with Farage:
“It was the most unfair thing and don’t forget, it’s more important to them than it is to us. We have an ocean between some problems…
“They will take advantage.
“They took advantage of us on trade, they took advantage of the military.”
However, Trump asserted that, under his leadership, the United States would “100 percent” come to the defense of countries that pay their fair share.
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