WASHINGTON
\nUS President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned \u201cdumb\u201d and \u201cshameful\u201d comments by Donald Trump on NATO, in one of the incumbent\u2019s most blistering attacks yet on his likely Republican rival in November\u2019s election.
\nThe 81-year-old Democrat accused his predecessor of bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Trump said he would encourage Moscow to attack NATO members who failed to meet financial commitments.
\n\u201cFor God\u2019s sake, it\u2019s dumb, it\u2019s shameful, it\u2019s dangerous, it\u2019s un-American,\u201d Biden said in a televised address from the White House to urge the House of Representatives to pass vital war aid for Ukraine.
\n\u201cCan you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. And the worst thing is he means it,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cNo other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will.\u201d
\nWashington\u2019s allies reacted with alarm after Trump made his most extreme broadside yet against the US-led military alliance \u2014 even by his standards of long-term NATO-bashing.
\nBiden used Trump\u2019s comments to fuel his election attack line against Trump \u2014 who was impeached twice as president and now faces a series of criminal trials \u2014 as a threat to democracy.
\nIn his remarks from the state dining room at the White House, he accused the real estate tycoon of acting like an organized crime boss when it came to the alliance.
\n\u201cWhen he looks at NATO, he doesn\u2019t see the alliance that protects America and the world. He sees a protection racket,\u201d Biden said.
\nBiden added that if Trump\u2019s allies in the House fail to follow the lead of the Senate and pass a bill with billions of dollars in military assistance for Ukraine, then they will be playing into Putin\u2019s hands.
\nTrump made the comments at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday, describing what he said was a conversation with a fellow head of state at an unspecified NATO meeting.
\n\u201cOne of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, \u2018Well, sir, if we don\u2019t pay, and we\u2019re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?\u2019 I said, \u2018You didn\u2019t pay, you\u2019re delinquent? No, I would not protect you,\u2019\u201d Trump told his supporters.
\n\u201cIn fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.\u201d
\nA defiant Trump later defended his comments, saying he had made NATO \u201cstrong\u201d by making allies meet defense spending targets when he was in office from 2017-2021.
\nTrump has a long history of praising the Kremlin leader, for example calling him a \u201cgenius\u201d and more credible than US intelligence.
\nHe has also said that as president, he could settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON US President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned \u201cdumb\u201d and \u201cshameful\u201d comments by Donald Trump on NATO, in one of the incumbent\u2019s most blistering attacks yet on his likely Republican rival in November\u2019s election. The 81-year-old Democrat accused his predecessor of bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Trump said he would encourage Moscow to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-387194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n