Marjorie Taylor Greene wants the U.S. out of NATO: The Georgia Congresswoman introduced a resolution Tuesday to remove the United States from the North Atlantic alliance.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Her Big Idea
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is meeting this week in Vilnius at a volatile time, as the alliance debates Ukraine’s membership status.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the organization said in a communique that it issued on Tuesday. “We reaffirm the commitment we made at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, and today we recognize that Ukraine’s path to full Euro-Atlantic integration has moved beyond the need for the Membership Action Plan.”
Back at home, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had a communique of her own.
Per Mediaite, Greene introduced an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that would remove the United States from the alliance.
“My amendment would direct the President withdrawal [sic] from NATO,” Greene’s resolution said. “They are not a reliable partner whose defense spending should be paid for by American citizens. For the better part of the last decade, Germany contributed only around 1% of its GDP to finance NATO obligations while the United States is paying around 4% of our GDP to defend NATO countries.”
“The United States has been financing and promising to defend NATO countries for decades and paying more than their fair share. Western European countries could and should be stepping up their financial contributions to ensure the security of NATO; instead, they are entirely beholden to Russia and the U.S. taxpayer is expected to foot the bill.”
The last claim is especially egregious, especially since NATO and Russia have been at odds for NATO’s entire history, and it’s not a frequent critique that the alliance is “beholden” to that country.
The U.S., perhaps needless to say, is not going to be exiting NATO, and there is almost certainly nowhere near enough votes in Congress for Greene’s NATO exit resolution to pass as part of the National Defense Authorization. It’s of a piece with Greene’s frequent resolutions to impeach President Biden and members of his cabinet, none of which stand much of a chance of coming to fruition, at least during the current Congress.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, he often ripped members of the alliance for not paying their “fair share,” and also threatened to pull the U.S. out of it, although he never actually took steps to do so. Prior to the Trump Administration, support for continued U.S. participation in NATO was a non-controversial, bipartisan consensus.
That certainly holds with Biden as president.
“The United States is here today to reaffirm our ironclad commitment to NATO, but also to our Ally Lithuania,” Biden said on Twitter Tuesday. Our partnership goes back a long way. And our commitment to Lithuania, to the Baltics, and to NATO has not wavered.”
Finland became the newest member of NATO earlier this year, while Turkey this week gave its green light for Sweden to join the alliance as well.
NATO’s agreement includes Article 5, which states that “the Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary.”
The only time the clause has ever been invoked is following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Should Ukraine gain NATO membership, all other member states would be obligated to defend it should it ever be attacked by Russia or another country. This could deter such a country- or could lead to a world war.
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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