Former president demands ‘total cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and says ‘re-evaluating Nato’s purpose is a key re-election pledge
Donald Trump has stated that the greatest threat to America is not Russia, but rather its own “USA-hating” congressmen and politicians.
The former president, who is still the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, said in a video on his Truth Social network that the war in Ukraine is a “proxy battle” and that there are more pressing issues at home.
“Russia is not the greatest threat to Western civilization today,” he said.
“It’s probably, more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible, USA-hating people who represent us.
“It’s the collapse of the nuclear family and fertility rates that no one believes is happening.
“It is the Marxists who want us to become a Godless nation that worships at the altars of race, gender, and the environment.”
Doubling down on his skepticism of US foreign policy, Mr. Trump said that he would begin “fundamentally re-evaluating Nato’s purpose and Nato’s mission” if elected in 2024.
Portraying US efforts to arm Ukraine as reckless, Mr. Trump said that America has “never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden”.
“Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our goal is an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
The message was criticized as “horrifying” and “pro-Putin”.
Olivia Troye, an ex-adviser to Mike Pence, the former vice president, said that it had “ongoing dangerous implications for our national security and the future of our country”.
“Republicans must condemn this. “Finally,” she added.
However, the most recent polling data show that Mr. Trump is still preferred by Republicans over any other potential or declared candidate for 2024, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
According to the most recent Quinnipiac University poll of Republican and Republican-leaning voters, Mr. Trump would receive 46% of the vote in a hypothetical GOP primary field, while DeSantis would receive 32%.
Mr. Trump finished by saying that he is “the only one” capable of “evicting the sick and corrupt establishment” because he knows “exactly what has to be done”.
