Graham responds to Trump NATO comments: ‘If you don’t pay you get kicked out’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) responded to former President Trump’s recent comments on NATO, saying that he supports the former president’s calls to get members of the alliance to contribute what would be considered their fair share.

In recent days, Trump has doubled down on comments in which he claimed to have told a foreign leader while he was in office that if their country didn’t contribute enough to NATO, then Russia can “do whatever the hell they want.” Graham said that he supports members of NATO paying a fair share to the alliance during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“I want to have a system where if you don’t pay, you get kicked out. But no, I’m not inviting Russia to invade Ukraine,” Graham said Sunday. “President Trump is right to want NATO nations to meet their obligation of 2 percent.”

“We need to turn it into an obligation that means something. I’m a big fan of NATO, but there’s $70-80 billion left on the table. If you’re in NATO, pay the 2 percent,” he said.

Trump’s calls for NATO members to contribute more largely centers on efforts to get all members to commit 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense spending, a benchmark NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said at least half of the 31-member alliance is set to meet in 2024. 

“I think what’s appropriate is for everybody to meet the obligation of 2 percent,” Graham said.

Trump’s comments prompted somewhat of a split in the Republican Party, with some pushing back on his remarks and others attempting to defend them. Trump has been critical of NATO in the past and frequently attacked the alliance while he was in office due to some members not contributing what he believed was enough.

President Biden called Trump’s remarks “appalling and dangerous” in a statement at the time.

“Donald Trump’s admission that he intends to give [Russian President Vladimir Putin] a greenlight for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous,” he said.