In a speech to Republican donors in New Orleans, Donald Trump said the US should put a Chinese flag on F-22s and “bomb the hell out of Russia” in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Washington Post reported on the remarks, which were made on Saturday evening.
The newspaper reported that, laughingly, the former president said, “And then we say, ‘China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it,’ and then they start fighting each other, and we sit and watch. ”
Trump also called NATO a “paper tiger”, said the US military won “skirmishes” with Russian troops when he was president, and said he was tougher on Vladimir Putin than any other US leader, according to the Post.
Trump has faced harsh criticism for praising the Russian leader since the invasion began. He also said that the invasion was wrong.
In a speech to “approximately 250 top GOP sponsors at the upscale Four Seasons Hotel,” the Post reported, Trump reiterated the GOP’s talking points against Joe Biden, stating that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he, Trump, were still in power.
“I knew Putin very well,” Trump said. “He wouldn’t do it. He would never do that.”
Russia interfered in the 2016 US election in favor of Trump. The investigation into this interference has resulted in criminal convictions of Trump aides and extensive evidence that Trump may have attempted to obstruct justice.
As president in Helsinki in July 2018, Trump publicly caved in to Putin and met with him in private, without close aides.
In 2019, Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to vilify Biden, leading to the first of two impeachments.
“No one has ever been tougher on Russia than me,” Trump said in New Orleans.
The Post reported that Trump also praised North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un for having “total control” over his country.
The newspaper reported that much of the rest of the speech was devoted to Trump’s lie that his loss to Biden was due to electoral fraud.
Trump attacked two Republicans who rejected the lies: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Trump called “stupid and corrupt,” and his former Vice President Mike Pence, who led the certification of the election results after bloody riots. at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Post reported that “several” people said Trump had been talking too long and “looks like he’s been talking more in the last 30 minutes.”
Under legal pressure due to his business and political dealings, Trump looks set to run again in 2024. He remains dominant in the polls at the eventual field. In New Orleans, he said of the next candidate, “I wonder who that might be.”
According to the Post, “The crowd erupted with ‘Trump! chants.”