Republicans play cleanup on aisle Trump after former president's NATO comments

When former President Donald Trump recalled a story at a campaign rally in South Carolina over the weekend about telling a European ally that the U.S. would not defend it against Russia unless it spent more on defense, the reaction was swift and unsurprising.

The White House, in an uncharacteristic comment, called Trump's story, where he allegedly told a fellow world leader he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to countries that did not meet NATO spending targets, "appalling and unhinged."

NATO's leadership said the suggestion that any member country would violate Article 5's mandate that an attack on one is an attack on all "undermines all of our security," while Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C., had to answer questions about the remarks in interviews on television and in the hallways of the Capitol.

The inevitable cycle of Trump's controversial statements and stances are nothing new since his first run for president in 2016, and neither are the inevitable responses and the weight those comments are given among various groups.

His opponents say to take him literally and seriously; Republican voters say to take him seriously but not literally; and many of his allies in elected office often try to do neither.

Take the NATO remarks, made at a rally in Conway, S.C., on Saturday. The next day, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a co-sponsor of legislation that would prevent a president from leaving NATO without Senate approval, dismissed concerns about Trump's assertions.

"One of the things I'm not going to do any longer is respond to every comment Donald Trump makes and say, 'Do you still support him?'" he said on CNN. "I do, and I support him because Joe Biden's a disaster."

Rubio, who is vice