While you might expect Democrats to come down hard on Donald Trump for his comments that he may not live up to America’s commitments under NATO, even one Republican is criticizing the GOP nominee over his foreign policy and said it’s forcing him to reconsider his vote.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Wednesday that Trump’s recent comments that he may not come to the aid of NATO allies if they haven’t invested the required 2 percent of gross domestic product in defense show a “narcissistic foreign policy.”
“It’s the idea that the world needs us, we don’t need the world, and it’s simply untrue,” Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran, said on CNN.
Trump’s comments center on Article 5, a commitment among NATO members that if one country is attacked, other members must respond as if they were attacked.
“We attack President Obama for saying our allies don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us. Well saying you’re not going to invoke Article 5 automatically means our allies won’t trust us and our enemies, Russia, won’t fear us because they think they can march into the Baltics,” Kinzinger said.
At a Politico event in Cleveland, Kinzinger went on to say that he was offended by Trump’s suggestion that U.S. troops stationed overseas bring no benefit to America, and that they must be paid for being there.
Asked if he’ll be voting for Trump in November, Kinzinger said, “I’m not there yet.”
“I mean, you know, look, it’s obviously tremendous pressure on me. I’m not a fan of Hillary Clinton and I’m not going to vote for her,” he said. “I was closer to saying yes until last night, until this article, and this is something I have to work through on my own time.”
Another Republican and veteran, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, stopped short of criticizing Trump, who he endorsed, but did say at the Politico event that the U.S. must stand behind its commitments to NATO allies.
Still, Cotton, who spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention, said his choice on Election Day is a clear one because of the foreign policy disasters that occurred under Hillary Clinton’s watch as secretary of state.
