‘Stupid thing to say’: Republicans divided on Trump threat to violate Nato defence pledge

Former president Donald Trump’s latest remarks claiming that he would oversee the disintegration of the Nato alliance Saturday evening in South Carolina divided Republicans on Sunday.

Mr Trump made the remarks at a rally in Conway, South Carolina.

“If we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” Trump claimed to remember a Nato member-state’s leader asking him when he was president. He then claimed to have responded: “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

But Republicans — who are already experiencing a major split led by Mr Trump about the role of the United States as a global leader — disagreed about whether his words should warrant alarm when quizzed by The Independent.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas dismissed critiques of Mr Trump’s rhetoric.

“What I know is he’ll secure the border, he’s going to make this country safer, he’s going to hold Nato accountable,” he told The Independent. “And I think that people need to realize that like, you should take everything that he says seriously, but not literally.”

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a staunch supporter of Mr Trump who led the charge to object to the 2020 presidential election results, said Mr Trump was correct in saying that Nato countries did not pay their fair share, but added that the United States would live up to its commitments.

“Seriously, they need to do more, but obviously we don’t want Russia to invade,” he told The Independent. “If they invaded a Nato country, we’d have to defend them, so we don’t want that.”

Mr Trump’s remarks were not the first to throw into question the future of one of the world’s most significant and consequential military alliances, one that saw