The EU has given Kiev only ‘a tiny fraction’ of what Washington has, the former president says
Former President Donald Trump addressing the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa. © AP / Phelan M. Ebenhack
The US has too many problems of its own to hand money and weapons to Ukraine for its conflict with Russia, former US President Donald Trump has said. It’s Europe that should be providing more help to Kiev as it’s far more affected by the situation, he insisted.
Speaking at the Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, Trump recalled how he pushed for NATO members in the EU to increase their defense spending to 2% of their GDP during his presidency. Back then, the US was “taken advantage of by Europe,” and now the same thing is happening again over Ukraine, he said.
“We’ve so far given more than $60 billion to Ukraine. Well, the European countries, who are obviously far more affected than us, have given a tiny fraction of that number,” the ex-president noted.
If he were still in office, he “could’ve gone over there [to Europe] and said: ‘Listen, you’re going to put up the same money or more money than us.’ And they would’ve done it gladly,” Trump claimed.
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“But we just give money out. And we have $35 trillion in debt. We have all of these problems,” he said, referring to record inflation in the US, the energy crisis, and other issues.
Trump also doubted whether even the massive levels of US assistance would change the situation on the ground in Ukraine. “Now, it’s much tougher to solve,” he said about the crisis. “Russia has 35 times the fire power. And they’re looking to obliterate the weapons as we send them in. A lot of bad things are happening,” he added.
During his term, the US had “no problem” with Russia, China or North Korea, and “nobody even talked about” Ukraine, the ex-president claimed.
But in just two years under Joe Biden, the US “has gone from the strongest that it has ever been… to perhaps the weakest, especially when you include recognition and respect from all around the world. We’re not respected any longer by anybody,” said Trump.
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“Two years ago we were energy independent… Now we are a beggar nation, with Biden down on his knees pleading for energy from all over the globe; going to Venezuela, Saudi Arabia. Going to countries all over the world, asking for help,” he added.
