
<p>Democrats and their media cronies keep claiming that President Trump would take the United States out of NATO if reelected. ; They enhance their mendacious narrative with the scurrilously claim that he would do so as a favor to Russian President Putin. ; The claim may be an effective political narrative, but the only problem is that it appears to be untrue.</p>



<p>I did my best to search of the Internet for the quote in which Trump said he would pull out of NATO. ; I could not find one. ; In desperation, I turned to AI to see if it could find such a quote. ; According to Ai, “President Donald Trump has not explicitly stated that he would pull the United States out of NATO.” ;</p>



<p>So &#8230; All the repeated claims by Democrats are untrue. ; They are lies. ; Trump never said he would pull the United States out of NATO &#8230; period. ; He may have used threatening language as a means of getting the other member nations to pay their fair share.</p>



<p>In a secondary deceptive narrative, those on the left claim that Trump said that Putin could do whatever he wants regarding NATO. ; Not so. ; That comment is taken out of context. ; Trump was referring ONLY to NATO nations that are not living up to their financial responsibility to fund the Alliance. ; It was his Trump-style means to pressuring for increased funding.</p>



<p>One can criticize Trump’s pugnacious and over-the-top threatening talk about NATO. ; But it is not accurate to mispresent what he said and meant. ; He is not grousing about NATO as an alliance, but about too many members shirking their financial obligations.</p>



<p>One of Trump’s most consistent positions is that too many NATO nations are not living up to their pledged financial support for the Alliance with 2 percent of their GNP – relying on the United States to carry a disproportionate burden. ; Only 11 of the now-32 NATO nations currently meet or exceed that commitment.</p>



<p>He underscores his position by noting that it is the European nations that need the defense treaty as a bulwark against Russia more than the United States – which is far from Russia and has sufficient assets for self-defense.</p>



<p>Conversely, Trump cast a vote for the inclusion of North Macedonia and Montenegro into the Alliance during his term in office. ; They are small nations, but the expansion at the time infuriated Putin. ; ; ; While the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO occurred on President Biden’s watch – and largely in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – Trump is not on record as opposing those expansion.</p>



<p>Virtually all of Trump’s statements that are claimed to be anti-NATO focus exclusively on the failure of member nations to adequately fund the Alliance. ; Since that would strengthen NATO, it appears that Trump is not trying to weaken or abolish NATO as a threat to Putin’s aggressive instincts, but rather to make NATO stronger. ;</p>



<p>On a number of occasions NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed agreement with Trump &#8212; that member nations must increase their contribution to meet the 2 percent GNP requirement. ; In February 2024, Stoltenberg said, “we are making real progress: European Allies are spending more. However, some Allies still have a way to go. Because we agreed at the Vilnius Summit that all Allies should invest 2%, and that 2% is a minimum.” ; Just like Trump says.</p>



<p>The Democrats’ spin on Trump and NATO is just that. ; No matter how maladroitly or threateningly Trump may have expressed his opinion (and that is a problem), he has never called for pulling out of NATO. ; All the harsh language was to pressure members to meet their financial commitments ; ; And Trump’s only real actions have been to support a stronger NATO by increased funding and the addition of new members. ;</p>



<p>And for those who still irrationally cling to Democrats’ fearmongering campaign narrative, keep in mind that NATO is a treaty – and a President cannot break a treaty by executive action.</p>



<p>My personal answer (opinion) to the headline question is “no.” ; I do not believe Trump ; would take the United States out of NATO.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Would Trump pull out of NATO if reelected?
