“Not an empty threat”
Bolton: Trump is serious about leaving NATO
October 6, 2024, 1:13 a.m
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In terms of security policy, Europe could face stormy times if Trump actually returns to the White House. At least that’s what his former advisor John Bolton warns about. The ex-US President will force the withdrawal from NATO and Bolton also has bad news for Ukraine.
The former national security adviser under then US President Donald Trump, John Bolton, warned the Europeans that Trump would force the US to leave NATO if re-elected. “I think it’s not an empty threat from Trump to leave NATO. He means it seriously,” said Bolton in an interview with the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Trump was already very close to this step at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2018. Bolton appealed to Europeans to take more care of themselves and invest more in defense. The USA would have to increase its defense level from the current three to five to six percent. “The bad news for Europe is that these countries would also have to double their spending.”
With a view to the war in Ukraine, the former security adviser said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was playing for time and was counting on Trump becoming president again. “A Trump election victory would be very bad news for Ukraine.” Trump’s plan is actually that of his vice president, JD Vance. According to this, Russia would keep all territories annexed in Ukraine. “There would be a demilitarized zone and Ukraine would stay away from NATO. That is essentially Putin’s position too.”
Bolton referred to a Trump statement that the Republican presidential candidate said that the Russians always win in a war. “What he probably meant was that Ukraine would inevitably lose. Trump also said that the country was destroyed and that it would take a hundred years to rebuild Ukraine,” said Bolton. Authoritarian leaders like Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin would see Trump as “a very easy target,” Bolton said. Trump thinks he would get along well with these leaders because they are “strong guys.” Bolton was US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019.