In a 2015 interview, 45th President Donald Trump said that Germany and Europe should lead the charge if Russia ever invaded Ukraine, not America.
Speaking to John Dickerson on CBS News’ Face the Nation on October 11 2015, then-presidential candidate Trump was asked what he would do if he took office and “Putin goes into Ukraine.”
Trump, who had entered the race a few months prior, said that while he thought Ukraine was a “wonderful place,” that other European countries like Germany should be the ones to do “something” if an invasion happened.
“What do we have to do with Ukraine?” Trump added, highlighting that Germany is “massively wealthy.”
“They’re sending us a Mercedes-Benz a second, okay! Why isn’t Germany, this great economic behemoth… why is it always the United States that has to go and be the policeman of the world?” Trump asked, noting that America at the time was up to $19 trillion in debt. National debt in August 2022 is around $30.7 trillion.
“We don’t know what we’re doing,” Trump said. “We’re getting clobbered by everybody. We don’t have victories any more. You know what? I’m all for helping the Ukrainians, but we shouldn’t be the lead. The European countries should be the lead!”
Trump on what we should do if Russia invades Ukraine (October 11, 2015) pic.twitter.com/ax4jfkBn4J
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) August 25, 2022
Valiant News reported on Wednesday that Joe Biden is set to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government another $3 billion in monetary aid and weapons, six months after the Russian invasion. This would mean the total amount of money sent to Ukraine since February 24 would be around $13.6 billion.
In the 2015 interview, Trump posited a more America First approach to international relations than current policy objectives, without losing strength on the world stage:
“Look, I am the most militaristic person that’s on your show, okay. I want to have a much stronger military. I want it to be so strong that nobody’s going to mess with us. I want to take care of our vets who are treated terribly like third-class citizens. I mean we have illegal immigrants that are being treated better than our great vets. They’re like third class citizens. They’re going to be taken care of, but we have to make our military strong, and hopefully never have to use it!”
Oh, Trump was by no means an isolationist—he calls himself "the most militaristic person that's been on your show” in this interview, lol—but he was for using US military power in a way that aligned with the national interest rather than broader nation-building/humanitarian goals pic.twitter.com/DE4SsMKLMP
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) August 25, 2022
On his country’s Independence Day, President Zelensky pledged to continue fighting “until the end” without “any concession” to Russia.
Zelensky told his countrymen that “we only care about our land” and “For us Ukraine is the whole of Ukraine,” indicating he still expects to recapture contested territoriy in the Donbass and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
