Joe Biden and Donald Trump: the decrepit v the unhinged

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump attends a Get Out the Vote Rally in Conway, South Carolina, on February 10.

When Donald Trump was US president, he showed sensible leadership in 2018 when he insisted NATO members each spend 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence. NATO ministers had adopted that target in 2006 but by 2018 only a handful of nations were meeting it – Britain, Greece, Estonia and Latvia – in addition to the US, which was spending more than 3 per cent. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two years ago this month, prompted several other nations to step up their efforts. Last year, Poland’s share of GDP spending devoted to defence was the highest in NATO, 3.9 per cent, followed by the US (3.49 per cent). Nine other nations also exceeded 2 per cent. France was close, 1.98 per cent, and Germany is set to exceed 2 per cent this year.

The quantity and quality of defence spending is more pertinent than ever, including for Australia, when unofficial alliances between totalitarian states – China, Russia and Iran – have created acute strategic dangers. Sound leadership is vital, too. Mr Trump’s provocative boast that he once told the president of a NATO ally falling short on defence spending that if Russia invaded he would encourage it “to do whatever the hell they want” was appalling and unhinged, as a White House spokesman said. It was not the statement of a worthy alternative president. It explains why, faced with the dismal choice between Joe Biden, 81, whose mental faculties are declining badly, and Mr Trump, many Americans still would refuse to vote for the latter.

As NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said, a suggestion that NATO allies would not defend each other “undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk”. Mr Trump’s statement, in the context of his lobbying against more US military aid for Ukraine and his previous boasts about his admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, is alarming. His promise to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours smacks of appeasement. As The Wall Street Journal notes, the US should be debating how to counter growing dangers to security: “Instead we have an incumbent who has presided over the collapse of US deterrence and a GOP frontrunner who dotes on dictators. No wonder Mr Putin is looking so confident these days.” The Republican and Democratic parties owe it to their nation to produce better presidential aspirants.