Vice President Joe Biden told the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday that despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric, the U.S. has not turned its back on our “sacred honor” to our allies.
In particular, Biden felt an obligation to defend NATO’s Article 5, a treaty provision that insists an attack on any member in NATO should be treated as an attack on the whole alliance. In July, Trump told the New York Times that as president he would only honor this provision if he feels those countries have “fulfilled their obligations” to the U.S.
Enter the vice president in Riga, Latvia. In a speech to our NATO allies, he assured our NATO allies that Trump does not speak for the U.S., especially since the GOP nominee does not quite grasp the treaty’s fine print.
Biden declared that the U.S. has "never reneged on any commitment we have made" and that "our sacred honor is at stake." But Biden also said that Trump's remarks are "nothing that should be taken seriously, because I don’t think he understands what Article 5 is."
“We are 100 percent committed” to our NATO obligation, Biden added.
President Obama has also questioned Trump’s ability to handle foreign policy, calling him "unfit" for the presidency. This kind of criticism from the White House is rare during a presidential election.
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