House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi slammed President Trump’s first trip abroad less than 24 hours after the chief executive touched back down on American soil.
“President Trump’s brash and condescending lecture to NATO leaders disrespected our closest allies and dishonored the common defense pact that has been a guarantor of global security for nearly seven decades,” Pelosi said in a statement.
She also called Trump’s failure to affirm Article 5 of the NATO charter — where member nations pledge that an attack on one is considered an attack on all — “shameful but also dangerous.”
Even some conservatives like Charles Krauthammer chided the president for failing to clearly articulate support for Article 5.
Trump has touted his trip to Saudia Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Rome, Brussels and Sicily as one of the biggest success of his nascent administration. He said earlier Sunday it was “hard work” but brought “big results.”
Trump openly upbraided member countries for failing to live up to their full financial obligations under the treaty during the conference last week. He said that dealing with problems like terrorism and immigration crises demanded it. Each member country is expected to pay 2 percent of their GDP toward defense.
Trump told NATO that the days of the United States being the financial backer of NATO were over and each country was going to be required to pay more on their own defense.
However, some have claimed Trump fully implied America’s support for Article 5, even if his words were less than precise.
The editorial pages of this publication said, “But what else could he mean by his words that America would ‘never forsake the friends that stood by our side’? This made it plain that America’s commitment to NATO isn’t conditional.”
It became clear on Sunday Trump definitely had an effect on his fellow world leaders during the meetings in Europe, though it may not have been the one he wanted.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech Sunday that it’s clear Germany and other European countries could no longer depend on the United States and the United Kingdom as much as they used to.
“The times when we could fully rely on others are to some extent over — I experienced that in the last few days,” Merkel told her supporters. “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
“Of course we need to have friendly relations with the U.S. and with the U.K. and with other neighbors, including Russia,” she continued. “We have to fight for our own future ourselves.”
Trump also had to do damage control with the British over leaks from the American intelligence community on the bombing in Manchester, England last week. The British took the unusual step of cutting off intelligence sharing with the United States until Trump could reassure British Prime Minister Theresa May that the leaks would stop.
