Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the escalating Russia-Ukraine crisis is "a NATO problem" that President Joe Biden has turned into a potential "World War III."
Trump, speaking to Lou Dobbs on "The Great America Show" podcast, slammed Biden for saying that any actions taken against Russia would depend on "if it's a minor incursion [into Ukraine] and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera."
"What Biden said was psychologically very weak and very bad," Trump told Dobbs. "He said, Oh, they're going in. It was almost like an invitation to go in. We don't want to see that, but it was like an invitation."
Russia has moved some 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders, a buildup that the West says is preparation for a war to prevent the Eastern European country from ever joining the NATO alliance. The Kremlin denies planning an invasion.
Dobbs told Trump there had been a report that Biden was considering sending 50,000 U.S. troops to Europe to help defend Ukraine.
"To start World War III, to start World War III," Trump told Dobbs. "It's just all so crazy. And it would have never happened under me. It would have never happened.
"Taiwan, which will happen eventually with China, probably after the Olympics, would never have happened. Now bombers are flying freely over Taiwan."
Trump blamed Russia's aggression — and China’s — on Biden's disastrous U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan late last summer.
"There’s a lot of dislike, and I think I lot of distrust on behalf of Russia toward us because of what happened over the past year," Trump told Dobbs. "They look at our country and they're laughing, they are laughing out loud.
"This is just a lack of respect for us."
Trump said the situation involving Ukraine is "a NATO problem, European problem."
"NATO is something that, until I got here … you know we were being ripped off," Trump told Dobbs. "We not only got ripped off with trade from Europe — they're almost as bad as China as far as I'm concerned. They were ripping us off left and right.
"On top of that, we defended Europe because they weren't paying their bills. When I got in, I said, 'You're not paying your bills. You gotta pay your bills, you're delinquent.' And they said, 'Does that mean you wouldn't fight for us?' I said, 'If you’re delinquent, I wouldn't fight for you. No, you're right about that.'
"The next day, billions of dollars came in."
Trump said his administration recouped $400 billion from NATO countries.
"We were paying for most of NATO. And then I look at this situation, and they want us to go over," he told Dobbs.
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