Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] took aim at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump for the New York billionaire’s call for the U.S. to reconsider its involvement with NATO in the midst of the Brussels terrorist attack.
“It is striking that the day after Donald Trump called for America weakening NATO, withdrawing from NATO, we see Brussels, where NATO is headquartered, the subject of a radical Islamic terrorist attack,” Cruz told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump is wrong that America should withdraw from the world and abandon our allies,” Cruz explained, adding that Trump’s plans to move away from Europe would cede to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria “a major victory.”
Trump questioned the usefulness of NATO to the U.S. during an editorial board meeting with The Washington Post Monday.
“Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we’re doing all of the lifting,” Trump said. “They’re not doing anything. And I say: ‘Why is it that Germany’s not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of Ukraine, why aren’t they dealing? Why are we always the one that’s leading, potentially the third world war with Russia.'”
He later added, “We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore… NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with NATO, but we’re spending a lot of money.”