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In an appearance at a GOP fundraiser Saturday night, former President Donald Trump lambasted his former comrade Vladimir Putin for the mounting death toll in Ukraine, describing it as a ‘massive crime against humanity,’ and criticized NATO’s lack of action in the country.
During the spring retreat in New Orleans, Trump addressed a large group of Republican National Committee donors during which he spoke about an array of topics, including the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
According to Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey, who obtained a recording of Trump’s remarks, Trump also criticized NATO, calling it a ‘paper tiger’, and said the US should not stand by as Ukraine is invaded.
As Trump made his comments, it came at the same time that Putin’s forces had besieged Ukraine, sparking fears that NATO would be thrown into the fray. Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenzky has repeatedly requested that NATO enforce a no-fly zone over his country to counter Russian air superiority.
Despite this, the US and its allies have resisted, fearing it could put NATO forces directly at odds with Russia.
Trump reportedly proposed pulling the United States out of NATO multiple times during his presidency, a move that aides tried to counter.
In a joking manner, the former US President suggested that the US should fly Chinese flags on America’s F-22s and then ‘bomb the sh*t’ out of Russia, causing conflict between the two countries while ‘we sit and watch.’
He also shared his thoughts on North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, saying that ‘he’s absolutely the leader of that country,’ and expressed he was impressed at how Jong Un’s advisers were ‘sitting at attention’ when he talked and ‘cowered’ when he spoke to them.
Trump said one general stood up so fast when spoken to and joked:’ ‘I want my people to act like that.’
Trump previously voiced his support for Ukraine at last week’s CPAC event, where he said he was ‘praying for the proud people of Ukraine’ and expressed admiration for Zelensky, calling him a ‘brave man.’
‘God bless them, they are indeed brave, as everyone understand this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged and if I was president,’ he said.
The ex-president knocked Biden for being ‘grossly incompetent’ and poked fun at Biden’s threat of sanctions, saying Putin’s been getting sanctioned for the past 25 years.
‘The world hasn’t been this chaotic since World War II,’ Trump said.
On Saturday, Putin escalated his rhetoric in his confrontation with the West, saying that sanctions against Russia are tantamount to a declaration of war and threatening to treat any country that declares a no-fly zone over Ukraine as part of the conflict.
The threats came as Moscow’s brutal assault on Ukraine saw a mass civilian evacuation from the city of Mariupol derailed when Russian forces ignored a promised humanitarian ceasefire and continued shelling the southern city.
Russian troops continued to bombard encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million. The UN says more than 350 civilians have been killed since Russia’s invasion last week.
On Saturday, Zelensky repeated his plea for NATO to establish a no-fly zone in a meeting with the US Congress — but the idea faces strong bipartisan opposition in America, and NATO leaders have rejected it, pointing out that it would draw the alliance into direct military confrontations with nuclear-armed Russia.
A no-fly zone could only be enforced by shooting down Russian aircraft, and Putin on Saturday made clear that he would view such a move as joining the conflict.
‘We’ll instantly view them as participants in a military conflict,’ the Russian leader told a group of female employees of Russian airlines, according to Russian state media. ‘We’ll view any movement in this direction as involvement in an armed conflict by the country from whose territory threats to our military service members are posed.’
At the same meeting, Putin issued bellicose threats in response to the punishing economic sanctions leveled against his country by the US and Europe.
‘These sanctions that are being imposed are like the declaration of war,’ said Putin. ‘A lot of what is happening now, of what we now see and what we face is undoubtedly a means of fighting against Russia.’
Source: The Republic Brief