‘Treasonous’: Aged NATO supreme allied commander blasts Trump’s NATO remarks

Fallout over what Donald Trump said about NATO. Listen to what the former president and Republican front runner told a campaign rally in South Carolina over the weekend. One of the presidents of a big country who stood up said,.

Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us? I said, You didn't pay your delinquent. He said, yes, let's say that happened. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them.

To do whatever the hell they want The NATO's secretary general said Trump's claim that he would encourage Russia to attack U.S. allies if they did not spend enough on defense puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.

And the European Union's top diplomat said NATO's security cannot depend on how a president of the US feels on any particular day. He's not. Yes. Now? Yes. Tomorrow or no? It depends. Who are you? Oh, come on, let's be serious.

Let's be serious. NATO's cannot be an alliance against it, exist or not exist. But I did want to ask you, former NATO's supreme allied commander, to react to Donald Trump's comments where he effectively invited Russia to invade NATO's countries that may not have given as much TENIDO.

As they are asked to You know, John, you can't put enough adjectives on this to describe how treasonous such a comment is. How unfeeling, how insensitive to the fears of Europeans, many of whom have lived under Russian oppression.

They know exactly what it is They're much closer to the problem in Ukraine than Donald Trump has ever been. And they know what's going on there. This is a war of extinction against a nation of 40 million people to destroy the culture of the language, the history,.

And anybody who's associated with resistance to Russia occupation. So you could have 10 million people killed. If Russia comes in there, Trump just is is all about himself. He makes shocking statements. Maybe he wouldn't actually do this. Maybe it's just for theater,.

But he shouldn't do such things. And we know from his previous administration that he actually was working to disassemble naito. So I put a lot of credence in what he says. It's not just a shock statement all over it.

Is that this is a warning to the American people what's going to happen if Donald Trump becomes the next president of the United States. General Wesley Clark, we appreciate your time as always. Thank you. I just quickly have to ask you.

About these comments from Donald Trump. Basically inviting Russia to attack in any which way they please because of money. Basically, when he talks about Naito and their alliance, I mean, what is this doing to the European Union and all of those.

That are in the potential fire line of fire? Honestly, Sarah, people are aghast. I mean, they 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 the president, 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. The usually quite careful and diplomatic secretary general of NATO's Jens Stoltenberg came out immediately and dismissed this comment and said, you know, they expect any US president, no matter of what party.

Or who that would be to abide by the the rules of NATO's and the Article five. So the idea of I mean, literally he used would 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 US has, you know since World War to lead. Yeah.I mean, hearing those words were stark to a lot of people's ears. And you heard the response there. Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much for coming on the program.

Joining me now is retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. He is the former director for European affairs at the National Security Council. I first just want to get your take on hearing a former president who is the front runner for the Republican Party.

And for the presidency, if you look at the numbers. What is your take on what he just said? Thanks for having publicly Yeah, thanks for having me on. First of all, we have to recognize that story is basically made up. I mean,.

That kind of conversation doesn't occur. You don't have a major ally asked questions in that manner. You know, these what ifs are just kind of almost a cliche. Trump made up stories, too, as he's doing rallies in base. But what it does tell you is his intent,.

Which is for for some time been speculated on at least by some elements of the national security community. For those folks that have worked with Donald Trump, that have been in the White House, they know that, in fact, Trump had every intention.

Of withdrawing from Naito. He thinks it's some sort of golf association and you have to pay BS. So I think he cleared that up for us. Now, The problem is that it's also an invitation to somebody like Vladimir Putin,.

A clear invitation to Vladimir Putin, just like he did inviting Vladimir Putin to interfere in our elections in 2016, releasing emails, all these types of things. He's basically catering to our and he's catering to our enemies and attacking our allies.

That's who we're talking about here. The worst enemy to our friends and the best friend to our enemies. Meanwhile, on the other side of the equation, you have Joe Biden welcoming the chancellor of Germany attempting to normalize relationships.

He's been highly effective in trying to bring a bill to support a Ukraine aid to Congress for for a vote. And, you know,the stark contrast between these two men is unbelievable. One invites attacks on our allies. I mean,.

God forbid. You know,the Polish community sees this and believes that they're next because they're the next one closest to Russia. I mean, that's that's what we're talking about,.

An attack on our allies that's being invited by the frontrunner for the Republican Party. Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, I am curious what you think this does to the United States and its role in the world.

Does what Donald Trump say, does what Donald Trump said there really have an impact on how strong the United States is in the rest of the world? Is it making America weak on the world stage? Absolutely. It makes us look unstable.

Frankly, neurotic under a really kind of depends. We definitely look weak in absolute terms. We have a frontrunner for one of the two major parties undermining our alliances and pandering to our enemies. So on that in absolute terms, yes.

But we really, really will come down to is who wins the 20, 24 election in November. If Biden wins, then we have normalcy. We have stability. If Trump wins, we have utter chaos. So the contrast is absolutely stark. One will continue to maintain the U.S.

Role, continue to maintain U.S. power. And, frankly, primacy in the international system. And the other one will just completely unwind all of U.S. power and influence and spell disaster inviting our enemies to attack us.

When you hear from the European Union's top diplomat and say this just this just can't happen. This it can't be depending on the president what the United States policy is when they've had a long standing policy. I mean, what is Europe doing right now?.

You talked about Poland, which is which is right. They're having people coming over from Ukraine right on the border. What what do you think that the allies are talking about right now as they listen to some of this language from Donald Trump? Sure.

I mean, I don't have to speculate. My brother attended a dinner with that gentleman mid last week and relayed to me that, you know, they're still trying to measure what the future holds, whether it's going to be a Trump administration.

That, again, spells disaster for the Euro Atlantic Alliance. Will Destroy Naito. Or do we have a four more years of President Biden rebuilding relationships, making America stronger driving the most powerful,.

Fastest growing large economy in the world? That's what they need. That's what they're trying to measure. And I think the comment that he had my town had was that they need to plan for the worst and hope for the best, which is we do have a massive amount of chaos.

By a Republican Party. It's not just Trump, but it's a Republican Party as a whole that's catering to Trump's most excessive, most destructive tendencies. I mean, they themselves look to they passed legislation to prevent Trump from.

Unilaterally withdrawing from Naito, but that's not enough. The amount of damage that a Trump administration could do is really hard to fathom. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman with a very direct warning there. Thank you so much for coming on the program.

Appreciate your time.

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