Correspondent in Washington

Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever it wants” to a NATO member country that fails to meet defense spending guidelines. During a campaign rally Saturday in Conway, South Carolina, Trump explicitly called into question the very principle of collective security of the Atlantic Alliance.

Evoking an exchange with an unidentified European head of state in one of the often imaginary dialogues that he likes to insert into his speeches, and where his interlocutors address him with deference, Trump explicitly released the United States from their commitment: “One of the presidents of a great country stood up and said to me, ‘Sir, if we don’t pay and we are attacked by Russia, will you protect us?'” Trump said. “I said, ‘You haven’t paid, are you in debt?’ He said, “Yes, let’s admit that it happens.” “No, I won’t protect you. In fact, I would encourage Russia to do what it wants. You must pay.””

This declaration calls into question the principle of collective defense provided for in Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance, which states that “an armed attack against one or more members in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against all” . The article has only been invoked once, since the creation of NATO, to defend the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Even if Trump has long had a habit of provocative outings, and if his hostility to NATO is known, this is the first time that he has announced so explicitly his intentions towards the oldest American external alliance. His remarks have taken a particular turn since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They also coincide with the historic transformation of the Republican Party under his influence. The isolationist current that he has revived is gradually taking over the traditional wing of the party, and has been blocking American aid to Ukraine for several months in Congress.

The outraged reactions in the United States and Europe demonstrate the concern aroused by the comments made by a former president and likely candidate of his party in the presidential election. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, judged the Republican’s statements “irresponsible” and “dangerous”. “Encouraging the invasion of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and irresponsible, and endangers American national security, global stability and our national economy,” Andrew Bates, spokesperson for the White House. “Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines the security of all of us, including that of the United States, and places American and European soldiers at increased risk,” the Secretary General of the United States responded in an unusual statement. ‘NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. “Any attack against NATO will be met with a united and energetic response.”

Trump has a particular aversion to NATO, which he sees as free insurance provided to partners who refuse to participate financially in common defense. During his presidency, he repeatedly threatened to withdraw the United States from the Alliance, confusing the goal set in 2006 that each member manage to devote 2% of its GDP to defense with a contribution due to the American ally . “He clings to the belief (…) that NATO is a kind of protection racket, in which our European allies come to Washington like trembling traders to donate to the local mafia boss from their weekly takings “, commented Tom Nichols, foreign policy specialist at The Atlantic magazine.

With these latest remarks, however, Trump explicitly indicates for the first time that he does not intend to defend NATO allies against a Russian attack if he is re-elected. Far from being a joke, they correspond to the isolationist policy defended by Trump and which is winning over entire sections of the Republican Party. Since last fall, its allies in Congress have refused to vote on any bills including military aid to Ukraine. Including the latest one, last week, which nevertheless included the migration policy reforms that they demanded in exchange for their votes. A new attempt to pass an emergency text through the Senate is underway, but risks encountering the same refusal from the Trumpist bloc in the House of Representatives. The traditional wing of the Republican Party, embodied in the Senate by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, appears less and less able to ensure the continuity of American foreign policy.

Some elected Republican officials downplayed the former president’s comments. “Donald Trump doesn’t talk like a traditional politician, and we know that,” Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, said in an interview with CNN, adding that “when Trump was president, he didn’t take us out of office. NATO: American troops were stationed throughout Europe, as they are today. Former close associates of Trump are taking the ex-president’s comments much more seriously. “When he says he wants to leave NATO, as he did during his first term, and as he has done since, people better believe him,” warned John Bolton, who was the National Security Advisor to Donald Trump. Bolton explained in his memoir that Trump came close to withdrawing the United States from NATO in 2018.

Marco Rubio, who sits on the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Senate, himself found it useful to pass a provision last year preventing the American president from leaving NATO without a two-thirds vote. Senate or a vote of Congress. But Article 5 of the NATO charter is not a legal obligation, and the decision to honor it remains the responsibility of the executive power.