“A friend in need is…” no friend of the United States

May 24: On This Day In 2017

The North Atlantic Treaty, which created the most durable military alliance in modern history, has just 14 clauses. The crux of the alliance is Article 5: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all…” It commits each nation to defending the others.

OTDI 2017, speaking before the Article 5 Memorial at NATO’s new headquarters, Trump honored NATO’s coordinated response to the 9/11 strikes on the U.S., citing “the commitments that bind us together as one.” (When the fighter jets of our NATO allies patrolled the skies of NYC after the attacks, it marked the only time Article 5 has ever been invoked).

But Trump refused to state the obvious. Candidate Trump had complained about international alliances generally and about NATO specifically. So there was concern that Trump wouldn’t explicitly declare the same thing in his inaugural speech that every American and NATO leader has for decades: That our country will continue to stand by Article 5. Sure enough, he intentionally remained silent on that topic…even in the following days when allies expressed alarm at his word choice.

Member states at NATO HQ

To Putin, of course, the omission was comforting. He heard the president’s silence on the threat posed by Russia, the very thing that had motivated the creation of NATO in the first place. And, continuing to walk alone down his path to pariah status, Trump later publicly contemplated exiting NATO all together. Thankfully some of his saner staffers talked him down from his ledge; doubtful they’d be able to do the same to a re-elected and vindictive Donald Trump in 2025.

Dive Deeper

• @RosieGray reported for @TheAtlantic on Trump’s refusal to affirm Article 5:

• @thomaswright08 commented on Trump and NATO for @BrookingsInst

• Here’s the (fairly short) text of NATO’s founding Treaty

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Summary: Trump refuses to affirm NATO's Article 5