The panel, Wednesday on the RCP podcast, discussed the Trump administration plainly stating that they are “reevaluating” the value of NATO after European allies failed to offer any help with the U.S. attack on Iran, and looks forward to the president’s speech on Iran planned tonight. Is he going to declare victory and leave, or announce an escalation of the war and ground invasion? And how would either decision impact the GOP’s chances in the midterm elections? Watch: Rubio: Why Are We In NATO When They Won’t Allow U.S. To Use Their Bases? Watch: Live Wednesday Night: President Trump To Give Update On Iran War On Wednesday Night “What’s been revealed by this war, when it comes to Great Britain, they had something like six destroyers, and four of them were unoperational. They can’t fulfill their commitments to Cyprus. They can’t do anything to help us,” Carl Cannon said. “It raises the question naturally – and I wouldn’t have said this six months ago – does NATO need to be rethought? Is the United States really getting what it needs out of that alliance?” he said. “Is it time to rethink the entire enterprise? That’s what the president has said, and I would have dismissed that because he just says any random thought that comes into his head. When Marco Rubio says it, I think it’s worth taking seriously.” “I think we should reexamine NATO. I think Marco Rubio is exactly right. Whether you agree or disagree with Trump’s decision to take action in Iran, once that decision was made, you expect our allies to act like allies, and they seem to have decided that they want to stick it to Trump,” Bevan said. “This can not be a one-way street.” “I also don’t think this would send a good signal to China,” Andrew Walworth added. “If you’re Japan or the Philippines or Taiwan, will you think the U.S. will have your back when push comes to shove?” “Reports are that Trump is going to say this war in Iran will be over in two or three weeks. But it still puts the Republicans in a very tough spot,” Tom Bevan said. “Democrats are going to say Trump took a two-month detour, spent $ 60 billion, and you’re worse off because gas prices are higher and things are still expensive.” “The rejoinder to the Democrats on that is: You guys waste that much on Medicaid fraud every year,” Carl Cannon said. “But I don’t know that the president is in a position where he can declare victory and leave and have that be a credible foreign policy venture. All this has done is convince Iran they need a nuclear bomb.” “We haven’t stopped steaming U.S. troops toward the Persian Gulf; this could still all be a feint,” Walworth added.
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