CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour said Monday on CNN’s “News Central” that she believed former President Donald Trump’s comments on NATO were “literally insane.”
At a rally, Trump said, “One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us? I said you didn’t pay, you’re delinquent? He said yes. Say that happened, no, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You have to pay. You have to pay your bills.”
Amanpour said, “People are aghast. I mean, they view that kind of invitation, encouragement, from the front runner of the United States for the Republican nomination to be, you know, literally insane. I mean, for a presidential candidate of the United States to say that kind of thing publicly while President Putin is having an interview in order to put down his lines of negotiation, which essentially are negotiation on his terms only over Ukraine. For the leading Republican candidate, who people must take at his word, nobody’s trying to guess what he’s saying. They’re taking him at his word. It’s caused a huge amount of anxiety, as you can imagine.”
She continued, “Usually quite careful and diplomatic Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, came out immediately and dismissed this comment and said, you know, they expect any U.S. president, no matter what party or who that would be, to abide by the rules of NATO and the Article 5. So, the idea he used the words to encourage Russia to do what the hell it wants in Europe, is terrifying for Europeans and the rest of the world, especially in the defense of democracy and the international world order, which the U.S. has, you know, since World War II led.
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