On the day Trump announced he would be breaking his campaign promise to label China a currency manipulator, he also walked back his tough talk on NATO.
“I said it was obsolete. It is no longer obsolete,” President Trump said of NATO during a press conference with Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO. For this, Trump took credit again – even though this claim has already been ruled false by PolitiFact.
Watch here:
WATCH: Trump on NATO – 'I said it was obsolete. It is no longer obsolete.' Live updates: https://t.co/ze2fzwzMMT pic.twitter.com/RZuIMdeW5U
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— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 12, 2017
Trump has already been fact-checked as false for claiming that NATO was obsolete and changed their policy due to his comments.
“I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats,” Trump said on August 15th, 2016.
For this claim, Trump got a “False.” PolitiFact determined, “The change he’s apparently referring to — the creation of a new senior post and division for coordinating intelligence sharing — is just the most recent incremental change in how the alliance handles counter-terrorism, a topic it has addressed, in big ways and small, for more than 30 years. There is no evidence that the change was made in response to Trump’s complaints about the alliance. Experts said such changes typically require a longer gestation period so that all member nations can get on board. We rate Trump’s statement False.”
NATO was never obsolete. That was just a stupid bumper sticker slogan Trump ran on to appease Russia and make himself out to be some kind of tough guy genius to his supporters, who don’t seem to realize that Trump hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about when it comes to foreign policy matters.
In fact, Trump said he would work to enhance the NATO partnership. This isn’t Superhero Changed NATO, it’s Man Who Speaks Loudly About Things About Which He Knows Nothing Is Learning on the Job.
NATO not so bad after all, and it’s not because Trump forced them to change. Gone is the swaggering tough guy image Trump played on the trail. Here comes weak, walk-it-back politician. You know, the guy his supporters claimed he wasn’t.
How many ways will Trump stab Republicans in the back? It’s only Wednesday.
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