Nato comes to Washington. Republicans have a warning

It’s Nato week in Washington. That means that traffic is backed up, metro stops are closed and American allies have descended on the nation’s capital to focus on its longstanding support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on its 75th anniversary.

Ostensibly, this should be a moment of celebration. Nato coming to Washington should symbolize America’s status as a world leader. Amid the war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden and allies have shown a unified front against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a major supporter of Ukraine, introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Reagan Institute (a reminder of a bygone era when Republicans supported the robust American interventionism that the institute’s namesake championed.) House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Zelensky and newly-minted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a sign they still want to make maintain the Cold War line that politics ends at water’s edge.

But like with everything in Washington, especially as Biden’s re-election remains precarious, the specter of Donald Trump looms large over the summit. Trump has, of course, shown hostility to Nato. In February, that he said that when it comes to Nato allies who do not agree to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, not only would the United States not defend their countries from a Russian attack but “I would encourage them [the Russians] to do whatever the hell they want.”

Back in February, most Republicans brushed off Trump’s remarks. Senator Rand Paul, one of the most isolationist Republicans, told The Independent that Trump’s remarks were a “stupid thing to say.” Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas