Fox News Town Hall Audience Cheers When Trump Says He Wouldn’t Defend Besieged NATO Allies That Don’t Spend Enough on Militaries

Fox News town hall attendees cheered when former President Donald Trump declared that if elected president again, he would not aid NATO allies that are attacked if those countries have failed to meet their financial obligations.

Member states are required to spend at least two percent of their GDP on defense, a threshold that several are not meeting. Trump has long criticized countries that come up short.

Trump previously said if Russia invaded a delinquent NATO ally, he would not defend said ally.

The town hall in Greenville, South Carolina aired live on Tuesday, but Fox News host Laura Ingraham played unaired portions on Wednesday’s edition of her program. She showed Trump clips of Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden criticizing Trump over his remarks.

“So, does this mean you’re not gonna defend NATO countries if they haven’t paid their two-point whatever percent?” she asked.

“Well yeah, sort of,” Trump replied. “It does.”

Members of the audience cheered, hooted, and hollered.

“We have 28 countries and they were taking advantage tremendously,” he continued. “What I did is, I told them, ‘If you don’t pay up, I’m not gonna defend you.’ And they said, ‘I can’t believe it. Nobody else ever said that.'”

Trump pivoted to Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, and groused about the amount of aid the U.S. is giving the country, which is currently trying to repel a Russian invasion.

“We’re paying for Ukraine much more than they are,” he claimed. “They should be paying at least on an equal basis. They should actually be paying more. And the reason they’re not is that nobody is asking them.”

Trump then criticized Biden and stated, “The guy doesn’t know he’s alive.”

Watch above via Fox News.