There is growing concern among German leaders that NATO will not survive if Republican front-runner Donald Trump is re-elected as US president, the New York Times claims.
Trump addressed his supporters in Las Vegas last month and said the US is too “pay for NATO, and we don’t get that much out of it,” add that “If we ever needed their help, let’s say we were under attack, I don’t believe they would be there.” The former leader has repeatedly accused Washington’s NATO allies of failing to pull their weight, stating in 2017 that the military bloc “deprecated.”
Trump remains comfortably in the lead for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of the November vote, with numerous contenders having withdrawn from the race.
In its article on Saturday, the NYT claimed that senior German officials fear there are serious doubts whether NATO could survive a second Trump term.
Unofficial deliberations reportedly taking place in Berlin and other European capitals, reportedly aimed at a possible disintegration of the bloc, mark a “amazing reversal of thinking” compared to the talk of a “new unity” after the start of Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022, the newspaper added.
“Their immediate concern is the growing pessimism that the United States will continue to finance Ukraine’s struggle.” The NYT reported this, referring to a months-long impasse in Congress over President Joe Biden’s latest proposed $60 billion package for Kiev.
Republicans have made the unblocking of further defense aid to Ukraine and Israel conditional on the administration agreeing to tighten controls at the US-Mexico border to stem the flow of migrants.
Citing anonymous sources, the NYT reported in December that EU diplomats and representatives from several think tanks had attended “making pilgrimages to associates of Mr. Trump” to investigate whether he intended to withdraw the US from NATO.
Earlier that month, Mark Esper, who served as US Secretary of Defense under Trump from July 2019 to November 2020, told MSNBC that if re-elected, his former boss “would withdraw support to Ukraine.”
“His next step would be to withdraw from NATO, especially troops from NATO countries.” the former Pentagon chief claimed. Esper warned against such a scenario “It could cause the collapse of the alliance.”
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