Donald Trump used a campaign speech in Conway, South Carolina, to misrepresent US aid to Ukraine and NATO and to cast into doubt America's treaty obligations to NATO allies.
I've transcribed the whole thing so you can get a feel for it.
I just put it out, they want to give almost a hundred billion dollars to a few countries. A hundred billion. And I said, and I'm telling you this, this is breaking news. I said why do we do this? If you do, you give them not a hundred billion; no, you give it to them as a loan. It's called a loan. Give them the money and if they can pay it back, they pay it back. If they can't pay it back, they don't have to pay it back because they've got some problems. But if they go to another nation, they drop us like a dog. Like a female drops a male after a date because he doesn't like her, right?
If that happens to our country, then very simply, we call the loan, and we say, "We want our money." Because we give money and then they go to another side. As an example, let's say we give all this money, we're already into Ukraine for over 200 billion dollars, and they could make a deal with Russia in the next three weeks where all of a sudden they don't want to deal with us anymore and we've given hundreds of billions of dollars. And why are we at over 200 billion dollars and the European nations are, if you add them up, it's a very similar sized economy, they are 25 billion dollars. So we're at 200 plus. and it affects them much more, we have a thing called an ocean between us, right? It affects them much more, but we're at 200, and they're at 250 [note: this is not a typo].
I did the same thing with NATO. I got them to pay up. NATO was busted until I came along. I said, "Everybody’s going to pay." They said, "Well, if we don’t pay are you still going to protect us?" I said, "Absolutely not." They couldn’t believe the answer. And everybody...you never saw more money pour in. Secretary General Stoltenberg, I don't know if he is anymore, but he was my biggest fan. He said, "All these presidents came in to make a speech and leave, and that was it." They all owed money, and they wouldn't pay it. I came in, I made a speech and said, "You gotta pay up."
They asked me that question. One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, "Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?" I said, "You didn’t pay? You’re 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."
You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.
And the money came flowing in.
And Henry would know this, if I said, "Yes, I will. You don't have to pay. Yes, I will." Most politicians have said to that, "Yes, we will protect you under any circumstances." Well, then, they're never paying up. I said, "No, no, you have to understand, you don't pay your bills, you get no protection." It's very simple. Hundreds of billions came into NATO, and that's why they have money today, because of what I did. And then I hear they like Obama better. They should like Obama better, you know why? Because he didn't ask for anything. We were like the stupid country of the world, and we're not going to be the stupid country of the world any longer. We're not going to be...got bad under this guy.
So now he wants to send them 50, 60 billion dollars. I have to say one thing, I think the greatest salesman ever in history is Zelensky. I like Zelensky because during the hoax, you know, the impeachment hoax they said I made a threatening phone call to him. And when they asked him, he said, "No, it wasn't threatening. It was a very nice call." He could've played to the bandwagon. He didn't do that, he told the truth. So, I like Zelensky, but that war's gotta end. We can make a deal on that war. One of the things we're gonna do is we're gonna get that war ended. That war is a disaster. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are being killed. Far more than you're reading about. And you notice you don't hear about that war anymore, you know why? Because they're not doing well, that's why. 'Cause the fake news has totally bought in, and now they're saying this is not working out. Now we gotta get that war settled, and I'll get it settled. It would've never happened with Putin, it would never happen. And, by the way, it didn't happen for four years. It didn't happen. We'll get it settled.
But we're fighting for the people of our country. We're going to stop that war, we're going to stop other wars that are happening.
Trump's description of our aid to Ukraine is simply balderdash. The money appropriated to aid Ukraine is not sent to Ukraine. It is either contracts to US companies to provide goods and services to Ukraine, reimbursement to the US military for equipment sent to Ukraine and training assistance, or grants or loans to Ukraine. I don't know if Trump is uninformed about the aid process or if he is informed and thinks that those attending his rallies are stupid or need to be lied to.
In terms of aid, the US and NATO are about 50-50 in military assistance. As of October 31, 2023, this seems to be the latest official data, the US had contributed $75.4 billion to Ukraine aid. Military aid was $46.3 billion; the remainder was financial support and humanitarian assistance. The financial aid is administered by the World Bank, not sent to Ukraine.
Military from across the EU IS $49.3 billion. EU and EU institutional aid dwarfs US non-military aid. EU institutions alone have contributed $79.1 billion plus another $2.3 billion.
So the idea that the US is carrying the load in Ukraine aid while Europe is freeloading is nothing but horsesh**. In terms of the percent of GDP dedicated to Ukraine aid, the United States trails the Netherlands and Croatia, coming in 16th place. This is not the case of us doing what Europe refuses to do.
The bill that just cleared the initial cloture vote in the Senate represents approximately the amount of money Congress dedicated to Ukraine's national survival last year.
READ: $96 Billion Ukraine-Israel Assistance Bill Clears Major Senate Hurdle
Data behind the above points is available in dollars and euros at the links.
NATO is a mutual defense treaty. It is neither a dues-paying organization nor a protection racket. Members have an informal agreement to spend two percent of GDP on defense. That agreement was reached in 2014. The fact is that all of NATO was increasing military expenditures when Trump came into office and those expenditures continued to increase while he was president. Four of 28 NATO countries achieved the two percent goal in 2016. Ten achieved the goal in 2020. Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and France were new countries. The extent to which Trump had any impact on that is arguable (do your own research at the link), but money didn't "pour in."
The idea that an American president would encourage Putin "to do whatever the hell they want" is repulsive. Putin isn't the only one hearing the invitation. So is Xi. So are the Iranian mullahs. So are our allies in places like South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan.
If there is one thing the Biden regime should have taught us, it is that we have lost our leadership position. When we tried to assemble a coalition of nations to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, we got no takers.
READ: Red Sea Security Coalition Melts Down As Member Nations Refuse to Accept US Leadership
Telling allies that you won't protect them unless they spend a certain amount of money doesn't sound tough; it sounds unreliable. It sounds like all the worst stereotypes the "America First" crowd creates of an "American Empire."
Trump's kneejerk hostility to NATO will do nothing to help the US and a lot to hurt. His Bizarro World description of Ukraine aid, both in dollar value and how it works, is inexcusable. He needs to do better.
