Former President Donald Trump came under fire over the weekend for comments on the campaign trail about NATO countries paying more for defense. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) appeared on Fox Business's Kudlow to discuss, saying this is another example of how Trump speaks and pointed out that President Biden has recently faced controversy for using foul language against Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.
Specifically, Trump expressed frustration through an anecdote in which he seemingly told the leader of a NATO country that if they would not pay their 2% GDP obligation, he, as President of the United States, would not intervene if Russia attacked.
Sen. Rubio pointed out that "Trump simply expresses it differently than the other one" and clarified that the former President's remarks were more "like a negotiating tactic of some sort, but it was not prospective." In other words, it was a means of saying the United States demanded the other members of NATO contribute more money, not a genuine threat.
At the same time, Sen. Rubio also said, "I would not have talked that way because I do not talk that way. But Donald Trump does not talk like a US Senator. He does not talk like people who have served here or are members of some foreign think tank."
Moreover, Trump's remarks have received greater scrutiny than those of President Biden, who has supposedly called Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu an "a*****e" in private for Israel's conduct in fighting Hamas in Gaza and disagreeing with a new two-state solution.
"What we do know is that even as the Israelis and Israel [are] fighting for its very existence, you have an administration that is going out there and openly saying that they have gone over the top, that he hates Netanyahu, that we do not like the way you are conducting your operation. He is actively, in a time of war, undermining an ally, and he is doing it to appease the radical antisemitic element of his base that exists," Rubio concluded.
Such behavior comes after President Biden stated he would veto a standalone bill for Israeli aid in the previous week.
