Originally Posted by Horza
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March 27, 2016 -- Trump sends one of his earliest campaign-season tweets about NATO:
My statement on NATO being obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the U.S. are now, finally, receiving plaudits!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016
April 2, 2016 -- Trump doubles down on NATO criticism at a Racine, WI campaign rally, but admits he’s only a recent study on the NATO topic:
“I said here’s the problem with NATO: it’s obsolete. Big statement to make when you don’t know that much about it, but I learn quickly.”
April 8, 2016 -- “Looks like I was right about NATO,” Trump tweets, linking to a Foreign Policy article about other Republican senators arguing over NATO allies’ laggardly defense spending:
Looks like I was right about NATO. I had no doubt.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2016
June 6, 2016 -- Trump repeats his charge that the military alliance is obsolete, and points out that they are appointing a new intelligence chief, insinuating that his criticism prompted the move:
See, when I said NATO was obsolete because of no terrorism protection, they made the change without giving me credit.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2016
July 17, 2016 -- Trump and running mate Mike Pence are interviewed by CBS News’ Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes; she asked Trump to explain how he would tackle the fight against ISIS as president. NATO was invoked:
“We’re going to have surrounding states and, very importantly, get NATO involved because we support NATO far more than we should, frankly, because you have a lot of countries that aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
July 20, 2016 -- Trump is, again, interviewed by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and David Sanger at the Republican National Convention:
“If we cannot be properly reimbursed for the tremendous cost of our military protecting other countries, and in many cases the countries I’m talking about are extremely rich...we have many NATO members that aren’t paying their bills.”
July 20, 2016 -- Trump softens his rhetoric, somewhat, on NATO; in a tweet, he does not refer to the military alliance “obsolete,” instead calling for fellow members to “pay their bills”:
Wow, NATO's top commander just announced that he agrees with me that alliance members must PAY THEIR BILLS. This is a general I will like!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
January 15, 2017 -- in a joint interview, post-election, pre-inauguration, with the Times of London and Germany’s Bild, Trump reflects on his “obsolete” comment, but insists he was both correct and vindicated:
“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete. It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”
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04-12-2022, 03:32 PM
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