Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton “dumb” on Friday for saying the United States should defend allies under military attack by Russia or North Korea even if they have failed to pay in full for U.S. protection.
The Republican presidential nominee renewed his threat to abandon U.S. allies in Europe and Japan, saying, “You always have to be prepared to walk.”
“I don’t think we’d walk,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary. It could be, though. It could be that Japan will have to defend itself against North Korea.”
Trump complained that Japan, Germany and other allies “don’t pay anywhere near what it costs” to defend them. So the U.S. should threaten to break its obligation to defend NATO members under attack by Russia, he said.
“Russia’s plenty tough, but we got to – you got to go with the punches folks,” Trump said. “We got to do what we have to do. We have to make it good, and you always have to be prepared to walk.”
Trump’s remarks followed weeks of criticism by both Democrats and fellow Republicans over his sympathetic approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell argued Friday in a New York Times op-ed piece endorsing Clinton that Putin had effectively recruited Trump “as an unwitting agent” of Russia by flattering him with compliments.
At the Iowa rally, Trump mocked his Democratic rival and unnamed “eggheads” who say the U.S. must honor its defense pacts regardless of whether allies pay in full for protection.
“Once the allies hear her dumb talk, because it’s dumb, why would they ever pay?” Trump asked.
Describing the United States as mired in debt, Trump repeated his inaccurate assertion that America is “one of the highest taxed nations in the world.” In a ranking of tax burdens around the globe, the CIA’s World Factbook lists the United States as No. 171 out of 219 countries.
Trump called Clinton the “queen of corruption.” If she wins, he argued, it would bring “the destruction of this country from within.” He responded to chants of “Lock her up!” by saying, “Thank you.”
At a time when critics charge that Trump lacks the temperament needed for a commander in chief, he also alleged that Clinton was “unbalanced” and “pretty close to unhinged.”