In response to Trump's comments, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that any attack on the alliance would face a “united and strong response.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels in November.credit: AP
He added: “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines our entire security, including that of the United States, and exposes American and European soldiers to increased danger.”
He added: “I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election, the United States will remain a strong and committed ally in NATO.”
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz also responded, writing on social media: “NATO’s slogan ‘One for all, all for one’ is a concrete commitment… No election campaign can be considered an excuse to manipulate the security of the alliance.”
European Council President Charles Michael warned: “Reckless statements about NATO security and its art[icle] 5- Solidarity only serves Putin’s interest. “They do not bring more security or peace to the world.”
Trump's last rally took place in South Carolina two weeks before the Republican primary competition in that state, where he remains the favorite to beat his only remaining rival, Nikki Haley.
A supporter of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, outside a campaign event for Republican candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in Conway, South Carolina.credit: AP
But comments suggesting Russia should attack US allies who don't pay their share were just some of the former president's rhetoric over the weekend.
Days after Republicans approved a bipartisan bill aimed at stemming the number of migrants illegally crossing the border between the United States and Mexico, Trump highlighted his own plan to address the crisis.
“On Day One, I will end all open borders for the Biden administration, and we will begin the largest internal deportation operation in American history,” he said to the roar of the crowd.
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According to his advisers, such a program would involve rounding up illegal immigrants already in the United States — many in sanctuary cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago — and placing them in detention camps awaiting deportation.
Earlier in his speech, Trump bragged about how Republicans were “crushing Joe Biden's disastrous open borders bill.”
If the bill had been passed last week, it would have given US authorities the power to prevent migrants from crossing the border if the number of crossings rose above 5,000 on average per day in a given week, or 8,500 in a single day.
It also included provisions to raise standards for screening asylum applications and implement expedited deportation of ineligible people.
The former president also received enthusiastic cheers when he told the crowd that if elected, he would sign an executive order “on day one” to cut federal funding to any school that advances critical race theory (which studies systemic racism in American public policy) and is transgender. Insanity and inappropriate racist, sexual or political content on the lives of our children.
“It is hardworking patriots like you who will save our country,” he told a mostly white crowd in South Carolina, a state with a dark history of slavery and where blacks now make up one in four residents.
We will fight for America like no one has fought before. 2024 is our last battle.”
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