Active Now

Pet Eater
Discussion » Questions » Politics » Why would you run for president if you don't even know what NATO is?

Why would you run for president if you don't even know what NATO is?



President Trump admitted he did not know much about NATO when he first called it “obsolete” on the campaign trail last year, he told the Associated Press.

“They had a quote from me that NATO's obsolete. But they didn't say why it was obsolete. I was on Wolf Blitzer, very fair interview, the first time I was ever asked about NATO, because I wasn't in government. People don't go around asking about NATO if I'm building a building in Manhattan, right?” Trump said to the AP, according to a full transcript published late Sunday.

“So they asked me, Wolf ... asked me about NATO, and I said two things. ‘NATO's obsolete’ — not knowing much about NATO, now I know a lot about NATO — NATO is obsolete, and I said, ‘And the reason it's obsolete is because of the fact they don't focus on terrorism.’ You know, back when they did NATO, there was no such thing as terrorism,” Trump continued.

ADVERTISEMENT
The 67-year-old North Atlantic Treaty Organization does in fact have a focus on counter-terrorism and issued its first formal declaration on the issue in 1980. The alliance also invoked Article 5 — which commits NATO countries to help any member state under attack — one day after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S in 2001.

NATO also made a change to its terrorism blueprint in 2012, when it stated that “the Alliance strives at all times to remain aware of the evolving threat from terrorism; to ensure it has adequate capabilities to prevent, protect against, and respond to terrorist threats.”

Trump first criticized NATO during an interview with The Washington Post's editorial board in March 2016, saying NATO “as a concept is good, but it is not as good as it was when it first evolved.”

Following the March 22, 2016, terrorist attacks in Brussels, where at least 35 were killed and more than 300 injured, Trump told ABC News he thought NATO was “obsolete.”

"NATO was done at a time you had the Soviet Union, which was obviously larger — much larger than Russia is today,” he said, adding that the alliance should be “readjusted to take care of terrorism.”

But earlier this month, at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said the alliance is “no longer obsolete.”

Trump said he will continue to work closely with NATO allies, particularly when it comes to fighting terrorism.

But he also said, “I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change and now they do fight terrorism.”

“I said it was obsolete,” he continued. “It is not longer obsolete.”

At the time, Trump also reiterated his call for NATO allies to “meet their financial obligations and pay what they owe.”

Trump will attend a NATO summit in Brussels on May 25

Posted - January 8, 2018

Responses


  • 13277
    He ran and he won. Enough voters obviously felt that Hillary was the worse choice, so it didn't matter. Congrats, you're starting to sound like our dear friend Rosie!
      January 8, 2018 11:17 AM MST
    4

  • 46117
    Oh.  Okay.  Thanks for that obvious run-down of everything we already know. 

    The sky is blue, stu. 

    You are constitutionally incapable of grasping the situation at hand.  This is a NEW day and another complaint by MANY people who don't think that Trump's being President is because everyone voted for him.  People are writing BOOKS remember?  About things that took place that Trump is trying to stifle.  So, I'm so sorry you heard it all already.  You heard nothing if you can take this as nothing to be alarmed at.  Are you kidding me?  The whole nation is up in arms, but  Stu knows it all and has heard it all.  Maybe you should school the rest of the nation that is just catching up then



    I am not starting to sound like anyone.  You are the same person that gets on here and says the same thing every day.  That Rosie and I are saying nothing.

    You say nothing.  Every day.

    Nice to see you again. This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at January 8, 2018 1:57 PM MST
      January 8, 2018 1:29 PM MST
    1

  • 13277
    The sky is blue and Trump is president, and you can't do anything about it. I'm not saying that you're saying nothing, I'm saying that you're accomplishing nothing. You even bring your Trump rants into questions to which this stuff is completely irrelevant, like my ones about taxes and Australia.

    Whatever.
      January 8, 2018 1:56 PM MST
    3

  • 46117
    The sky is blue and Trump is president, and you can't do anything about it.

    But I AM saying it.  You are saying NOTHING.  Over and over.  The end.  This is just another Stewie.  It doesn't imply that you should be shot.  I don't adhere to 2nd Amendment Rights.  Exception:  The President.  Someone shoot it.  I don't get why there are so many nutbags and violent people out there that would shoot anyone for a nickle, why no one has gotten the idea to off Trump and make a name for themselves.

    I really do NOT want that.  That would mean Pence would be President.  We need a bomb, not a gun to clean that whole cabinet out.

    Sincerely,

    Donald Trump

      January 8, 2018 2:01 PM MST
    1

  • 13277
    And? Yadda, yadda, yadda. All of your noise makes absolutely no point. You just go around and around in circles saying the same shizz about Trump over and over again. He shouldn't have won, but he did. He shouldn't be president, but he is. He should be assassinated, but that's a crime. He should be impeached, but he can't unless it can be proven that he was guilty of something on par with Nixon/Watergate/wiretapping/burglary et al.

    And none of what you post on here will change anything. Between you and Rosie, it's tiresome and you're accomplishing absolutely nothing and making no salient point. Trump is president - tough noogies.
    This post was edited by Stu Spelling Bee at January 8, 2018 7:11 PM MST
      January 8, 2018 2:27 PM MST
    2

  • 6477
    Well, so say you....
      January 8, 2018 4:05 PM MST
    1

  • 13277
    And? What point is she making?
      January 8, 2018 5:05 PM MST
    2

  • 7280
    I think the word "won" is overstating what happened.

    Bastards and cream rise to the top---he was the only bastard in the race and he popped up.


      January 8, 2018 2:51 PM MST
    1

  • 13277
    He did win. What else would you call it? It helped that Hillary was a poor candidate who was fortunate that she wasn't charged with a felony for misusing classified information and also ran a lousy campaign.
      January 8, 2018 3:12 PM MST
    3

  • 6477
    And he was lucky that he didn't get found out and charged with an awful lot of the things he has done... but the point is..most reasoning folk know that winning isn't everything and that there are some very disturbing consequences to be faced by those other than the orange angry satsuma :(
      January 8, 2018 4:09 PM MST
    1

  • 13277
    Winning may not be everything, but he is president and will be for the foreseeable future. We partly have Hillary, her sense of entitlement, and the failure of the Democratic Party to come up with a better candidate - perhaps one who didn't misuse classified information - to blame.
      January 8, 2018 5:03 PM MST
    2

  • 2658
    Urban Dictionary on a Trumpster...        ( his base that doesn't care)
    An incoherent uneducated ill-informed troll. Ignoring history of the man of orange complexion and a Chia pet on his head. Angry and mostly white in color. Not endearing. Really an insult painting the picture of a stupid individual lacking integrity. They say things like, he'll make "America great again" but have no fuc-ing idea how. They think 37% of the GOP voting for him is the "majority" This post was edited by Beans/SilentGeneration at January 8, 2018 4:06 PM MST
      January 8, 2018 11:51 AM MST
    2

  • 2658
    The Trumpsters wish you would be like this song...
      January 8, 2018 12:07 PM MST
    2

  • 46117



    "BABY" being the operative word here.


    This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at January 8, 2018 4:20 PM MST
      January 8, 2018 1:38 PM MST
    1

  • 2658
    Oct 8, 2017 - "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning," wrote Corker, the Republican senator from Tennessee.
      January 8, 2018 4:27 PM MST
    0

  • 22891
    probably cause he wanted to be president
      January 8, 2018 2:19 PM MST
    0

  • 6477
    Hmm an equally interesting point is. .why were so many Americans, (OK we accept it's way less than half of them) willing to vote for such a stupid, ignorant, (to the point of dangerous) man?  Many of us could see him for what he is... an idiot... a joke, a very un-funny one at that... It bemuses me that so many people defend and overlook their having the dumbest president ever...  He brings shame on America :(
      January 8, 2018 4:03 PM MST
    1