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As last week wrapped up, Republicans celebrated the fact that they’d been handed an apparent gift. Special counsel Robert Hur’s findings on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents sparked a renewed preoccupation with the Democratic incumbent’s age.
GOP officials looked forward to a prolonged public conversation about Biden’s status as an octogenarian — right up until Donald Trump, the strategic genius that he is, derailed that conversation with some radical thoughts about NATO.
This past weekend, the former president, following years of criticisms against the alliance, told supporters that he was prepared to “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” if it attacked a NATO ally that hadn’t invested enough in national defense.
The national — and international — backlash was as fast as it was fierce. Even some congressional Republicans found it impossible to defend. Biden kept the story alive on Tuesday, condemning his predecessor’s rhetoric as “dangerous, and shockingly, frankly, un-American.”
A day later, the GOP’s likely 2024 nominee thought it’d be a good idea to double down. Politico reported overnight:
Donald Trump on Wednesday night underscored his controversial position that the U.S. would not defend any NATO ally country that does not spend at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.
“I’ve been saying, ‘Look, if they’re not going to pay, we’re not going to protect, okay? And Biden who said, ‘Oh, this is so bad. This is so terrible that he would say that.’ No,” Trump declared at his latest South Carolina rally.
“One of the heads of the countries said, ‘Does that mean that if we don’t pay the bills, that you’re not going to protect us?’” the Republican added, saying that he told the foreign leader, “That’s exactly what it means. I’m not going to protect you.”
While it’s not exactly breaking news when Trump makes ridiculous comments, there are a handful of angles to this that make it significant.
First and foremost, it’s fairly easy to make the case that Trump is sending a dangerous message abroad, leaving little doubt that he’s prepared to allow — if not “encourage” — a destabilizing war in Europe.
Second, people close to the former president have spent much of the week downplaying the comments he made on Saturday, arguing that Trump shared a passing thought at a rally. One conservative foreign policy analyst close to the Republican told Politico, “Why the media takes these off the cuff comments so serious is beyond me. ... He was at a rally and it’s meant for right-wing outlets like One America Network. Don’t pay attention to them.”
This comes on the heels of a Trump campaign official appearing at an event with Republican megadonors, where she pushed a similar message: The GOP candidate will say a bunch of bonkers things in the coming weeks and months, Susie Wiles effectively said, and no one should pay too much attention.
But it’s not nearly that simple. Trump isn’t just making “off the cuff” comments about some random thing he saw on television; he’s making declarations about security crises abroad. Confronted with criticisms, here and abroad, Trump is doubling down on those declarations, leaving little doubt of his intended sincerity.
And third, the Republican’s latest rhetoric about NATO is a reminder about the importance Trump places on repetition. The former president is committed to the idea that he can make scandalous rhetoric more mundane by simply repeating it, over and over again.
The goal is to make dangerous positions appear boring and routine, but the strategy doesn’t change the fact that Trump’s radical position creates real security risks for the United States and its allies.