Russia and Putin · First term · № 45
Questioned defending NATO member Montenegro, calling its people 'very aggressive'
“I understand what you're saying. I've asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people.”
- Said
- , Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, recorded in Helsinki and aired July 17, 2018
- Subject
- Defending Montenegro
- Type
- NATO and allies
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- First term
What happened
Tucker Carlson asked why his son should go to defend Montenegro, which joined NATO in 2017, if it were attacked. Trump said he had asked the same question, then said Montenegrins were 'very aggressive people' who 'may get aggressive. And, congratulations, you are in World War III', before adding, 'that's the way it was set up'. NATO's Article 5 treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. A NATO official told the German agency DPA that the commitment remained 'unconditional and ironclad', Senator John McCain said Trump was 'playing right into Putin's hands', and Montenegro's government said its alliance with the United States was 'strong and permanent'. Trump had signed the protocol approving Montenegro's NATO membership in April 2017.
Sources
- Interview: Tucker Carlson Interviews Donald Trump in Helsinki - July 17, 2018
- In Interview, Trump Appears To Question NATO's 'Collective Defense' Clause
- Montenegro defends itself after Trump calls tiny nation 'aggressive'
- The President's News Conference With Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization