Sen. Marco Rubio twisted himself all around while defending Trump saying that he would allow Russia to invade NATO allies.
Rubio said on CNN’s State Of The Union:
That’s not what happened. That’s not how I view the statement. He was talking about a story that he talked about happened in the past. By the way, Donald Trump was president and he didn’t pull us out of NATO. In fact, American troops were stationed throughout NATO and he’s telling a story. Frankly, look, Donald Trump is not a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician. We’ve already been through this. You think people would have figured it out.
If you see the comments, he said NATO was broke or busted until he took over because people weren’t paying their dues and then he told the story about how he used leverage to get people to step up to the plate and become more active in NATO. He’s not the first American president, in fact, virtually every American at some point in some way has complained about other countries and NATO not doing enough. Trump’s just the first one to express it in these terms. I’m zero concerned. He’s been president before. I know exactly what he’s done and will do with the NATO alliance. It has to be an alliance. Not America’s defense with small junior partners. These are small countries. The Germans are doing a lot right now.
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Video:
Marco Rubio defends Trump, saying that he would let Russia invade NATO countries, “Donald Trump is not a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician. We’ve already been through this. You think people would have figured it out.” pic.twitter.com/8UTqdeN1xs
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 11, 2024
It was embarrassing to watch Rubio spin and play dumb.
Trump doesn’t understand Russia, NATO, or international relations.
NATO isn’t Mar-a-Lago.
It isn’t a club where people pay dues to get in. NATO is a strategic defense alliance. It is not conditional. Rubio knows all of this, and he also knows that Trump tried to destroy NATO and divide the members during his presidency.
It is a disgrace to the NATO that Marco Rubio would Trump endanger global and national security, but that is what the Senator from Florida did by justifying and defending Trump’s comments.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association