Not only would Russia have not waged war on Ukraine under the Trump administration, but the U.S. taxpayers would not have had to sink $60 billion and counting into Ukraine's defense – to watch Russia "obliterate" the weapons Ukraine is sent – former President Donald Trump lamented Saturday night.
"Ukraine would have never happened under the Trump administration," Trump told the young conservatives at the Turning Point Action Summit in Tampa, Florida. "Russia would have never done what they did – and they didn't."
Trump took another bow for his pressing NATO nations to contribute their fair share for their collective defense, to the tune of $430 billion, he said.
"We were being taken advantage of by Europe," Trump said. "If you look at Ukraine now, we have so far given $60 billion to Ukraine. Well, the European countries, who are obviously more affected than us, have given a tiny fraction of that number."
Trump said he would have made Europe pay for Russia's war on Ukraine.
"I could have gone over there and say, 'Listen, you're going to put up the same money or more money than us, and they would have done it gladly, but we just give money out."
Trump pointed to the U.S. national debt of $35 trillion, and the escalation in Ukraine under President Joe Biden worse than ever before, as the invasion of Ukraine began under the Obama administration in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea.
"Right now it's much tougher to solve," Trump warned. "Russia has 35 times the firepower. And they're looking to obliterate the weapons as we send them in, they're obliterating those weapons.
"It's a much tougher deal to solve now than previous.
"But think of it: You had me four years as president, you never had a problem with this. Nobody even talked about it."
Also, Trump said, Taiwan would not be under threat from China.
"China would have never thought about taking over Taiwan under the Trump administration – would have never thought – because they knew the consequences," Trump said.
And maybe the worst is going to be Iran, because Iran very shortly is going to have a nuclear weapon that they never, ever would have had. They were ready to make a deal. The would have made a deal within one week after the election, if it wasn't rigged and stolen."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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