Dem senator: NATO has become ‘functionally obsolete’ under Trump

“This incessant pushing and pulling and prodding at NATO, it hurts us, not just European countries. What he’s essentially telling Europe is that if Russia attacks you, and denies it, the United States isn’t going to get your back,” Murphy told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.” 

 

“We are not going to uphold Article 5. I would make the argument today that NATO is functionally obsolete,” he continued, referring to the article of NATO’s founding document that states that a threat to one member nation is a threat to all nations.

 

“I think that NATO rests on a political promise. It’s a political promise to get each other’s back if you are attacked, and I think Trump has told Europe over and over again, especially in the last week, that we are not going to come to their defense if they are attacked and so if I’m a European nation, I don’t know why I would hold up my end of the bargain as well,” he continued. 

 

The senator was referring to the president’s recent comments on NATO’s newest member, Montenegro, in which Trump questioned why the U.S. must commit to defending all NATO members. 

 

The Montenegrin government has claimed that a coup to place a pro-Russian government in power was staged to stop it from joining NATO. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. 

 

“If he knows what Montenegro is, he knows that they are a member of NATO. He knows that the treaty applies to every country, no matter how big or small you are. He hopefully knows that Montenegro, even when it wasn’t in NATO, came to the defense of the United States, and sent troops to Afghanistan and to fight on our behalf,” Murphy said. 

 

The comments followed Trump’s visit last to NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he said the member countries had agreed to “substantially up” their defense spending commitments. 

 

— Julia Manchester