INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush and an influential Republican foreign policy adviser, told Florida Republican National Convention delegates he’s “disturbed” by Donald Trump‘s latest comments about NATO.
The New York Times reported that Trump said if Russia attacked the small Baltic states that recently joined NATO, Trump “would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations ‘have fulfilled their obligations to us.'”
“When an American leader says ‘I’ll look at what the situation is after the Russians attack,’ that is an open invitation to Vladimir Putin,” Bolton said.
“When he (Putin) reads this kind of statement, it’s an encouragement to him. We’re not deterring him, we’re in effect giving him a free hand. So I hope that whoever advised Mr. Trump on this rethinks it,” Bolton said.
Bolton said Trump’s remark “doesn’t change my mind about Hillary Clinton and how disastrous she would be, doesn’t change my mind that I’m going to vote for Donald Trump in November, but honest to God, as a Republican Party for half a century or more, we have stood where Ronald Reagan has stood. We want peace but we want American strength to keep the peace.”
Bolton said he agrees with Trump that U.S. allies should contribute more to their defense. But, he said, “we’re not doing it for them. We’re doing it for us. And if we stop doing it, nobody else is going to do it for us.”
Bolton was a key figure for the Bush campaign in the 2000 recount.
“I spent 31 wonderful days in Florida in November and December of 2000. I can still draw a floor plan of the Emergency Operations Center in West Palm,” Bolton said. The Maryland resident told Floridians: “Don’t screw it up this year.”
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