Krauthammer: By Refusing to Say We’ll Honor NATO Article 5, Trump ‘Weakened’ America’s Deterrence

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” columnist Charles Krauthammer criticized President Trump’s NATO speech because “the president refused to say the simple phrase, ‘We will honor Article 5.'” Which he argued, “means that whatever deterrent exists from the United States is thereby weakened by simply not saying the phrase everybody was waiting for.”

Krauthammer said, “I think the scolding was unnecessary. Although, it has a long history. American congressional leaders, going back to the ’50s, have complained about NATO’s lack of contribution, lack of support. There’s nothing new there.”

He continued, “But what was new, and I think the real headline was, that after everything had been teed up for the president of the United States to reassure NATO that we would stand with them, the president refused to say the simple phrase, ‘We will honor Article 5.’ Which is that if one of us is attacked, all of us is attacked.”

He added, “It’s the omission that is the huge news here, and it’s fairly incomprehensible, because it means that whatever deterrent exists from the United States is thereby weakened by simply not saying the phrase everybody was waiting for.”

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