Trump’s NATO comments trigger fierce media and European opposition: How serious is he?

Donald Trump has made some news that is reverberating around the world.

It wasn’t him saying – after that incredible Super Bowl comeback by Kansas City – that he signed a law boosting earnings for musicians so Taylor Swift shouldn’t endorse Joe Biden (also "I like her boyfriend, Travis").

It wasn’t "we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country, we will rout the Fake News Media, we will Drain the Swamp."

It’s not that he told a South Carolina rally that "Biden's thugs are still trying to put me in jail on fake charges for crimes that they openly admit that Crooked Joe did. He actually did these crimes" – while adding "I’m not looking for anything to happen to this guy."

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No, it’s about NATO.

Trump recalled a conversation with the president "of a big country," who he says asked him if they didn’t increase their defense contribution to the North Atlantic alliance "and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?"

Sharing his response at the rally, Trump claims he said: "You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent… No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want."

The idea that Vladimir Putin could do "whatever the hell they want" set off alarm bells, not only among foreign policy officials in Europe but in much of the mainstream media here at home. One potential impact would be on Ukraine, with Trump having declined to endorse more military aid to that weakened country, which would allow Russia’s unprovoked invasion to succeed in either keeping its territorial gains along the eastern border or capturing the entire sovereign nation.

And yet there is further evidence, as if any were needed, that the