In his convention speech last night GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence promised Trump will ‘stand with our allies’: “Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies.”
Maybe someone should have informed Pence ahead of time that “The Donald” had just given an interview to the New York Times in which Trump undercut key foreign policy commitments just before Pence pledged to uphold them:
At one point [in his speech], Pence addressed foreign policy.
“We cannot have four more years of apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends,” he said. “America needs to be strong for the world to be safe. On the world stage, Donald Trump will lead from strength. Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies.”
Shortly beforehand, Donald Trump addressed the same topic in an interview with the New York Times. But the man at the top of the ticket offered a distinctly different understanding of America’s foreign commitments.
[Trump] even called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back.
For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are the most recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”