March 3, 2022
He's not the only one to say it. The reality is that it's only a matter of time before China invades Taiwan, a move that ensures a two-front war for the US.
MARIA BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about that because a U.S. delegation is visiting Taiwan in a show of support. There are fears mounting of a Chinese invasion in Taiwan. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived there today, and he got a warm welcome.
President Trump, do you expect China to invade Taiwan sooner rather than later?
DONALD TRUMP: I do because they're seeing how stupid the United States is run. They're seeing that our leaders are incompetent. And, of course, they're going to do it. This is their time.
They did nothing on Ukraine. They do nothing.
If you remember, I was the one that got the anti-tank missiles into Ukraine. Obama gave blankets. You remember when I first came in, they said Obama gave nothing. He gave blankets. If they didn't have those anti-tank missiles, they wouldn't have any chance. They would have been wiped out on day one.
It's very bad now, obviously, but it's very hard. There's such a difference in size and magnitude. But I'm the one that got all of that.
Yes, I see it happening in Ukraine rather soon because President Xi happens to be a man with a high intelligence level. And he looks at what happened in Afghanistan -- the way we pulled out. Not that we were pulling out because I was the one that got it down to 2,000 soldiers. But we hadn't had anybody shot in 18 months. Not one soldier was killed in 18 months.
He saw the way that we left Afghanistan, like a surrender, and left $85 billion and death behind and left American citizens there that are still trying to get out. And he sees that, and this is his opportunity to do what he wants to do, which is he -- and he's wanted to do that, and China has wanted to do that for decades.
BARTIROMO: Mr. President, let me get your thoughts -- I want to come back to Putin and I want to ask you what his end game is. But let me ask you about Germany because, throughout your presidency, you kept saying that Germany needs to pay its fair share. NATO members need to pay its fair share.
Are you feeling vindicated this week seeing that Germany is, in fact, stepping up on its defense spending and, in fact, did send weaponry to Ukraine?
TRUMP: Well, I am feeling somewhat vindicated but they're not doing enough because they never do. You know, they're very good -- very good negotiators. They said let the United States do it. Let the United States pay most of the NATO money.
Don't forget, there wouldn't be a NATO if I hadn't been president because I got them to pay $430 billion. When I first went -- my first meeting at NATO, I said look, you guys aren't paying. I looked at the chart. They weren't paying.
Twenty out of the 28 countries were not current. Many were totally delinquent. And I said if you don't pay, we're not going to defend you. Very -- and I took a lot of heat for that. And guess what? Everybody paid. They were all paying.
So, NATO has the money now but they're not doing the job they should be doing. I mean, what you have going on in Ukraine is just unbelievable that can happen. And again, it's almost like they're staying away -- oh, oh, he's going to do other bad things if we go in -- if we do anything.
Look, this should have never happened. It would have never happened. It played right into their hands. Biden said such weak statements at the beginning that Putin said oh, wow, this is my time to go.
He said we will never fight them. We will never do -- whether you're going to fight them or not you don't go out and say that publicly you'll never fight them. He said we'll never fight them. We'll only sanction them. When Putin heard that he said sanctions?
Now, Putin's end game, we'll have to see. Because Ukraine's put up a good fight. It's been much tougher on Putin than he thought. I thought he -- I think he felt he was going to just roll in but they put up a good fight.
By the way, using the anti-tank missiles that I got them -- that were given by me, the Trump administration -- Biden gave them very little. And Obama gave them nothing except blankets. You know that story. I mean, it's a well-known story seldom written about. But Ukraine's put up a very, very good fight, far better than most people thought possible. But now it looks like you're in big trouble -- big trouble.
SOURCE: Real Clear Politics