Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on the “Raging Moderates” podcast Friday that she was genuinely heartened by President Donald Trump’s recent dealings with NATO and the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations
NATO members agreed in June to boost their defense spending from 2 percent of gross domestic product to 5 percent by 2035 after Trump pressured them.
The president followed up in July by making a deal for NATO to pay for U.S. weapons supplied to Ukraine.
Clinton said on the podcast that these moves were positive indicators of improving “common ground” between the Trump administration and America’s European allies.
“I actually was encouraged by the events of the last several months. First of all, the NATO commitment by individual member states to increase their defense spending is very welcome. It’s something that prior administrations have certainly sought,” Clinton said. “And I think it’s great that we are seeing these commitments that now have to be followed through on. The willingness of European countries to support Ukraine, and by doing so by American weapons in order to provide them to the Ukrainians.
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“I think all of that is a very good signal that there is beginning to be a better understanding, both by the president and the people around him, as well as by the leaders of our European allies, that there can be common ground amongst us,” she continued. “And the kind of dismissiveness that we saw in the first Trump administration has been replaced by a much more obvious working relationship to the good of European security, transatlantic security, and hopefully Ukrainian security. So I’m actually encouraged.”
The president told NBC News in a July 10 interview that NATO would pay for U.S.-supplied Patriot missile shipments to Ukraine. Trump said the arrangement was made at the June NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump at the summit, even calling him “daddy.”
