Trump would withdraw from NATO if reelected in 2024 US presidential poll, says John Bolton

Former US President Donald Trump would withdraw from the western military Alliance NATO if re-elected in 2024, Trump's ex-national security advisor, John Bolton, said on Friday.  "If [Trump] were elected again, I think he would withdraw from NATO," Bolton was quoted as saying in an interview with the American newspaper, Washington Post. Bolton also argued that the Republican party's adherence to Trump's policies is a long-term attempt at suicide by his political party members. 

Trump's tumultuous relationship with transatlantic alliance

Ex-President of the United States, Trump, has had a tumultuous relationship with the transatlantic Alliance as he had often disparaged the coalition of the 36 member states military alliance. He had often described NATO as a relic of the Cold War and had slammed the alliance for instability. Trump had maintained that the United States was giving excessive funds to NATO and the Alliance's installation of missile defense systems across Europe and 65,000 troops would ratchet up the tensions. "You know we're dealing with NATO from the days of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists," he had said about the Alliance. "We need to transition to terrorism, or need something else," the Republican leader had noted.

Trump had threatened to pull out the US from the Alliance, a move seen as tantamount to the destruction of the Alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, however, repeatedly defended the spending of the member nations. As Europe and Canada pledged more than $400 billion to the defense budgets by 2024, Stoltenberg argued that it will make the Alliance stronger in midst of the looming threat of Russia's military expansion. French President Emmanuel Macron slammed Trump, saying that NATO is experiencing “brain death” due to his threats of withdrawal. Over the course of several times in 2018, Trump had privately held discussions about Washington's exit from North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he, however, could not implement his plan. 

Regretting that such a move would embolden Russia's President Vladimir Putin,  Trump's former national security advisor had earlier noted that the US would have also been in "worse shape" if Trump had withdrawn from the North American Treaty Organization.