Thursday on CNN’s “OutFront,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said President Donald Trump was threatening NATO “like a five-year-old.”
Host Erin Burnett said, “Trump earlier said, Senator, that he is considering pulling American troops amidst all of this from Spain and Italy. That was the day after he said he would do the same, possibly from Germany. Specifically, he threatened Germany hours after a phone call with Vladimir Putin and after the German chancellor said that Iran was ‘humiliating the United States,’ in the Iran negotiations. So in that context, here is the reason that Trump gave today for his threat against Spain.”
Trump said, “Italy has not been of any help to us, and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible, either has NATO. It’s not even the fact that they’re bad. It’s one thing if they said nicely or if they said, okay, we’ll help but the help is a little slow.”
Burnett said, “What do you say to that rationale? They had said it nicely, just that entire rationale for the potential of pulling 50,000 American troops from core NATO countries?”
Blumenthal said, “Absolutely absurd and abhorrent, but also very much against our own national security interests. Those troops are there for our national defense and our national security. They’re not there to enjoy the Italian sunshine, or because the Italians want them for their economy. In Germany, in all of the countries where we have NATO ties and alliances, our national interest is what President Trump is doing to NATO, which is to roll back and destroy literally decades of relationships and commitments.”
He added, “To resort to this foreign policy of vengeance and vanity. If they’re not nice to me, I’m taking away my soldiers, which is more characteristic of a five-year-old.”
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