Conservative attorney and prominent Trump critic George Conway has warned that President Donald Trump could announce a U.S. withdrawal from NATO as soon as Monday night — or at least claim to do so, given Congressional approval requirements — depending on the outcome of his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders earlier in the day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long expressed interest in weakening NATO, and recent developments following Friday’s Alaska Summit — including President Trump’s decision to step back from his stated goal of securing a Russian ceasefire, his Monday remarks about ending mail-in voting, and his Sunday statement that Ukraine should cede territory for peace and will never enter NATO — have drawn renewed attention to that issue.
“Don’t be surprised if Trump announces on Truth Social tonight that the United States is withdrawing from NATO,” Conway surmised late Monday morning. “I’m not joking. I’m not saying that it’s actually going to happen … today. But I’m not joking. Remember—everything he does is driven by his delicate, thirsty, easily bruised, malignantly narcissistic ego.”
Conway is the founder of an anti-Trump Super PAC, and is the president of the Society for the Rule of Law.
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The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson appeared to agree with Conway’s assessment, writing: “We live in a world where that is not out of the question.”
Technically, Trump cannot withdraw from NATO by fiat — the Senate must approve a withdrawal from NATO, according to a 2023 law signed by President Joe Biden, but Politico reports that law is not “airtight.”
Last week, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Michael McFaul, wrote: “If Trump were serious about ending the war in Ukraine, he should be discussing with Zelenskyy security guarantees for Ukraine, including NATO membership. That’s what the Ukrainians need in return for agreeing to reunify their country only through peaceful means. Thats a real deal.”
The New Republic suggests none of that will happen.
“Donald Trump is ready to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to block Ukraine from joining NATO—and to keep a slice of stolen land,” TNR’s Edith Olmstead wrote on Monday. “Ahead of his meeting with European leaders Monday, Trump put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to end the invasion of his own country by handing over seized territory and dropping his dreams of belonging to the powerful military alliance.”
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