Trump marketing and marketing campaign tries to downplay ‘off the cuff’ NATO remarks

And looming over the dysfunction on Capitol Hill is former President Donald Trump, who push House Republicans to tank the border security deal and is now threatening to torpedo the Senate's foreign aid package.

And this weekend, he doubled down on some of his isolationist rhetoric, encouraging Russia to invade Naito. Countries that fall short of NATO's guidelines for defense spending. Today, Trump's holding his first campaign event.

Since making those incendiary remarks. Let's discuss with cnn's elina treene. Former Democratic state representative from south carolina, bakari sellers and former republican congressman from illinois, adam kinzinger. Elaina, first to you. It seems the trump.

Campaign is now trying to downplay what seemed like an invitation from the former president they are, i say, downplay, but they're also not shying away from some of these comments. You heard donald trump himself double down on what he said.

On true social arguing that he's made nieto stronger. He's been pushing them to pay up and meet their spending obligations. But you do see his campaign and other allies trying to downplay this as well.

They're saying, look, you have to take Donald Trump seriously, but not literally. And I think it's really interesting to see how the party has been rallying around him in light of these comments. Arguing, you know,.

You heard the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marco Rubio, saying that this is zero concern. You heard Lindsey Graham, another top Republican on that committee, arguing that this is Donald Trump.

Being Trump and that he's never invaded another country before. This is his way of just trying to get these naito member countries to pay enough But I do think there's a lot of concern within the party. But again, you're seeing his Republican.

Allies, particularly those on the Hill, continue to rally around him. It's similar to his those comments he made about Nikki Haley's husband. A lot of people obviously very frustrated are concerned about those comments, him going.

After a man who was deployed currently in africa. But Donald trump continued to double down on that. On social media. He's argued that nikki is an embarrassment. Nikki Haley is an embarrassment to her husband, that he should come back.

And help her campaign again. Just really, you know, not shying away from that very incendiary rhetoric. And when it comes to Nikki Haley, I do just want to point out, Boris and Brianna, that Donald Trump and his team.

Are very confident about how he's going to perform in South Carolina. He's going to be here tonight. There's a big crowd expected they do think they're going to win that primary by big margins. But it's very clear that Nikki Haley is continuing.

To get under his skin. He's been very frustrated by her refusing to drop out. He does see her as standing in the way of him becoming the Republican nominee, something that he wants to do as soon as possible. And you're seeing that play out.

In his rhetoric on the campaign trail. And Congressman Trump's advisers are characterizing the narrow comments of Trump is off the cuff remarks and yet I don't think that that's how many Naito countries are seeing.

And I don't think that's how many people inside of the US who have been following Trump are seeing it. How do you see it? No, I mean, yeah, it's off the cuff. Everything he says is off the cuff. It's not thought through. It's all about him. And so at a moment he was feeling.

Somehow offended. It's like, you know, when you put Nikki Haley's husband up against him, he feels like much less of a man. So he has to lash out at him. And this is just what he would. All you have to do is say, what is the reaction.

In our NATO allies where it matters? And it's important to remind people the only time Article five which is the mutual defense treaty was ever invoked by Naito, was for us after nine 11. And that led to a 20 year commitment by native to Afghanistan on behalf.

Of the United States to fight terror. So if you look at what our European allies are saying, this is freaking them out, not because now they're going to be called to account for their 2% Europe has actually been drastically.

Increasing defense spending, even at a rate they're equal to are greater than the United States of late. But you look at how this is being celebrated in the Russian media ecosystem, the state controlled media ecosystem, it's being celebrated.

And the only thing that prevents NATO and Russia from going to war is Russia's belief that the Article five treaty will be obeyed. And that's the reason he doesn't attack NATO's country. So this creates it. You know, people try to pretend.

That Donald Trump is some anti-war guy. The truth is he is a warmonger in how he's speaking because he makes war far more likely just by his comment. Bakary. I'm curious to get your perspective on something related to what.

The former congressman is laying out here. Nikki Haley is now slamming Trump for mocking her husband, who's deployed overseas. Her PAC came out with an ad laying out some of Trump's comments historically about veterans. Let's listen to a portion of that.

Arnold Trump did it again, this time attacking Nikki Haley's husband. What happened to her husband? Where is he? He's gone. It's a sick pattern. Visiting military graves and saying,.

I don't get it. What was in it for them? Calling dead soldiers, suckers and losers. Donald Trump, sick or clueless? It's time to turn the page. Yet it doesn't seem to move the needle within the party. Bakari.

Well, it doesn't move the needle because the person who said it still will vote for Donald Trump. I mean, look, you have to have some level of fortitude. Nikki Haley asked the question who's going to vote for someone if they get convicted of any of these felonies.

And indictments that Donald Trump is accused of? In fact, she's already said out of her own mouth that she would vote for him. And so you had these people, particularly on the on the right side of the aisle who play these.

Political games, who try to mislead or in this case, not lead the American public. And it just doesn't work. We know that Donald Trump doesn't have respect for our military. We know he does not have respect for P.O.W.s.

We've seen him insult John McCain. We've seen him insult individuals in military gravesites and burials. We've seen him insult Michael Haley, who's actually deployed overseas. This is not new In fact, the flippant comments.

He made about our NATO allies. This is not new. There's nothing that Donald Trump says that will be new or some type of newly inflammatory rhetoric. All of these things. He has beaten that horse to death. But the question is whether or not the American public wants to double back,.

Whether or not they want to be browbeat by this rhetoric again and again in this chaos again and again, or if they're exhausted from it, I bet they're exhausted from it and want some of the normalcy that was or is Joe Biden. And so that's kind of what we're looking at.

And when you have a great ad like this, the Nikki Haley super PAC put out, all you have to do is look at the candidate and the candidates still going to vote for Donald Trump. So the ad the ad doesn't mean a whole lot of nothing. Congressman, you're a veteran.

I wonder what you think about this episode. No, get sick. It's just it just again, the only thing I can figure in trying to get in Donald Trump's mind is he obviously has no self-esteem. Let's be clear about that. And his brash loudness.

In attacking people is actually an outflow of the fact that he has no self-esteem. And I don't celebrate saying that I wish he did have self-esteem. But when you put people that would be willing to think about this,.

Give your wife we call giving your life the ultimate sacrifice. But like I think sometimes we glaze over that you literally everything you have become, you now are willing to put it into to defend a future.

For people that you don't even know. That is an amazing, incredible sacrifice. And Donald Trump thinks that only losers do that because he's never sacrificed anything a day in his life. We as Americans appreciate, obviously, those that make or are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Donald Trump abhors them. I mean, and we even heard about it when he would see people disabled at Walter Reed. He'd be almost disgusted by it or didn't understand it. This is an incredibly low and petulant man.

And look, it's not going to turn the GOP base, but the middle and the rest of America, I think, is having enough of it. And they're really sick in this. Elena at the top, we mentioned Democrats.

Flipping the third district in New York. Trump obviously not happy about that. He slammed the Republican congressional candidate, Marcy Phillip, essentially saying that she wasn't MAGA enough and that's why she lost it. What do you make of him making that statement?.

Look, we've heard that type of rhetoric from Donald Trump before. I think New York was obviously a different type of race, a different district. Of course, you had Tom Suozzi, who had run in before. He had great name I.D.,.

But and a lot of Republicans, I should say, in Congress, as Lauren Fox pointed out earlier, downplaying that and playing up just the dynamics of that race. But look, Donald Trump very much does believe that his endorsement carries a lot of weight, that those who back him.

Are more successful. And then on the other side of that, you have a lot of Republicans who note that in 20, 22, a lot of Republicans did not win their races, including Trump backed Republican candidates. And so I think that is definitely a concern for a lot of people.

Looking forward to this election. If Donald Trump is on the ballot against Joe Biden, of course, his name is going to carry a lot of weight. But as Trump continues to figure out who he's endorsing and I should note as well here, Boris and Brianna, that he's endorsing.

A lot fewer candidates this time around. And I'm told that is a strategic decision by his campaign to try and not alienate a lot of voters who he is really focused on. And, of course, he's very focused on his.

Campaign as well. But he does believe that those who are more MAGA, those who support him, do better. But that's not necessarily what you've seen. Like I mentioned in the 20, 22 midterm elections, but also in other local elections.

Across the country in the 2020 to 20, 20, 20, 18, Alina. Adam McCorry, thanks so much for the conversation.

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