Quote:That's all very well and good.  But you have to work that out BEFORE the Russians attack.   Trump is saying he's going to check their accounts AFTER the Russians attack.   That is INVITING a Russian attack.  

 

The correct thing to do is to say, we are going to defend our allies and fulfill our treaty obligations, period.   But separate from that, we can and should go to our allies and say, if you want to be in NATO, you have to fulfill your obligations, too.  

 

But as long as these countries are NATO members, we have to say we will defend them, period.  

 

What Trump said was pure amateur hour, and very dangerous.