What Donald Trump Just Said About NATO Is Actually Bananas
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Donald Trump addressed crowds at a town hall event in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Friday, responding to attacks launched at him over the course of the Democratic National Convention and inciting cheers of "build a wall!"
In his speech, which was livestreamed on The Hill, Trump attempted to explain some of his most controversial remarks — the jab about Megyn Kelly's menstrual cycle, mocking a disabled reporter — as well as his recent comments about foreign policy.
Trump doubled down on calls to use NATO to fight ISIS, "make people [ie. countries included in the alliance] pay" and addressed his critics.
"They said he doesn't know foreign policy," Trump complained.
Then something funny happened: he sort of admitted that they were right.
"NATO was not high on my list," the Republican candidate said.
"In all fairness I am a business person building buildings, and doing things all over the world," Trump explained. "And I am doing things! I built a great company."
Over the course of the bizarre town hall, he referenced numerous anecdotes from construction deals, at one point proclaiming, "I was right about everything!"
Even if the skills required of a business tycoon were identical to those required in foreign policy negotiations, Trump's business record makes it very clear that he has been wrong about quite a lot.
Wikimedia Commons/Nightscream - wikimedia.org
His business failures in Atlantic City and elsewhere are somewhat well known, and were mentioned frequently at the DNC, but you can learn more about them on a comprehensive list reported by Gawker's Ashley Feinberg.
He suggested that it was very unfair of reporters to him about the alliance, and proceeded to claim that he could basically learn on the job.
"In like 10 minutes, I know a lot about NATO," Trump said.
"I can learn, I'm a really fast learner," he said.
Despite Trump's professed lack of knowledge about foreign policy, he still had rather strong opinions about it.
He referenced trade deals with Japan, and said, "You have to always be prepared to walk, NATO, too. "
"This isn't 40, 50 years ago, OK — we [could] end up in World War III over a country we’ve never heard of.”
