THE DAILY SIGNAL | Published March 4, 2025
Republican members of Congress are becoming increasingly hostile toward NATO amid European solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his Oval Office shouting match Friday with President Donald Trump.
The American effort to broker Russia-Ukraine peace talks has encountered headwinds recently, with European leaders expressing support for Zelenskyy, and the British prime minister attempting to take a leading role in the negotiations.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has in recent days repeatedly called for the United States to exit the defense treaty it signed in 1949.
Lee’s criticisms come after the United Kingdom agreed to sign a new multibillion-dollar loan to support Ukraine after a London summit Zelenskyy attended Sunday, where multiple European premiers pledged continued support for the country—while not ruling out peace negotiations.
“If NATO’S moving on without the U.S. … We should move on without NATO … Time to leave,” Lee wrote on X in response to European leaders standing beside Zelenskyy in London.
The Utah senator also blasted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who, at the summit, spoke of rearming Europe and making Ukraine a “steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders.”
“Good luck, Ursula,” wrote Lee. “Don’t count on another cent from us.”
In a written statement to The Daily Signal, Lee reiterated his threat of disinvestment.
“The United States should reconsider its membership in NATO. This organization was originally created to contain Soviet aggression in Europe, but has become a means for other nations to exploit the American security umbrella without taking their own national defense seriously,” he said, adding:
It is a foreign entanglement through which smaller nations could drag the United States into a major war against our national interests.
He added, “If European heads of state continue to support endless war in Ukraine in defiance of President Trump’s push for a ceasefire and negotiated peace, they should be allowed to do so—on their own.”
Lee was not the only Republican to call for American disinvestment from the military pact.
“The U.S. should not send one more dollar to these orgs & countries. NATO is pushing to drag the U.S. into WW3, but they’re not even paying their fair share!” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on X on Monday.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Elon Musk have also joined in on the calls for an American withdrawal.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., likewise criticized NATO-affiliated United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who at the London summit called for a “just and enduring peace,” backed by European military assurances.
“The U.K. is prepared to back this, with boots on the ground and planes in the air. Together with others, Europe must do the heavy lifting. But to support peace on the Continent and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing,” said Starmer in a clip posted by Burchett.
Burchett wrote in response, “Old men make decisions, and young men die. The war pimps love a war. It is good for their portfolio.”
In an interview with The Daily Signal, Burchett said that he sympathized with fellow Republicans calling for an American withdrawal from NATO.
“I think that’s a viable option,” he said. “I think we need to weigh our fiscal security, our defense of our own country, and all that, but I think that’s a viable option, and I would support it.”
One irony of the Republican backlash to European’s tough-on-defense rhetoric is that Trump has long called for just that—an increased investment from European leaders in their own defense.
Burchett acknowledged that the moves might play into Trump’s hand.
“One hundred percent. That’s what they need to do,” said Burchett of the talks of increased European defense spending. “It’s a European war, and we’ve been carrying the fiscal ball on this.”
But increased Republican skepticism of defense partnerships with European countries is not just confined to Make America Great Again hard-liners such as Lee, Luna, and Burchett.
After the highly contentious Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has long advocated for funding the defense of Ukraine, shamed Zelenskyy for his behavior and suggested he consider resignation.
Those remarks were echoed by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Burchett said of Graham’s rapid evolution on the issue: “I think it’s a realization of what people like Trump and the American people have been saying all along. This is, first of all, not our war. Second of all, we can’t afford to borrow any more money to prolong this war, and that we need to get an exit strategy.”
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SOURCE: www.dailysignal.com
RELATED: ‘AmerExit’? Republicans push for US to leave NATO amid stalled Ukraine peace negotiations
‘What should we call the movement?’
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is pushing for the U.S. to exit NATO. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
FOX NEWS | Published March 4, 2025
Momentum is building among some Republicans and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to withdraw the U.S. from NATO amid stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
While President Donald Trump reportedly privately floated pulling the U.S. from the alliance during his first term, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has publicly backed such efforts in recent weeks and said it’s “time to leave” the alliance after NATO countries held an emergency meeting with Ukraine in London without the U.S.
Lee said in an X post on Sunday that if “NATO is moving on without the U.S.,” the U.S. should “move on from NATO.” Lee also suggested various names for the movement on Monday.
“What should we call the movement to get America out of NATO? AmerExit? NATexit?” Lee said in an X post on Monday, referencing Brexit, the term used to describe the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“It’s a good thing our NATO allies give us such favorable trade terms based on the fact that we provide a disproportionate share of their security needs Oh wait ….They don’t,” Lee said in another Monday post on X.
Lee isn’t the only lawmaker expressing such sentiments. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday in a post on X that “NATO is a Cold War relic that needs to be relegated to a talking kiosk at the Smithsonian.”
The lawmakers’ comments also come after Musk, who is heading up the Trump administration’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also shared support for withdrawing from NATO Saturday. Musk said “I agree” in a post on X, in response to another post claiming it’s time for the U.S. to detach itself from NATO and the United Nations.
The push to pull out of NATO coincides with stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought for Ukraine to become a NATO member after Russia invaded his country in 2022. But Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House on Friday after meeting to secure a deal, saying Zelenskyy was welcome back when he was ready for peace.
Pulling the U.S. from NATO would require Congressional approval. A bipartisan provision included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Bill requires that the executive branch would need support from 60 senators, or passage of legislation in Congress, to pull out of the alliance. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is now Trump’s Secretary of State, spearheaded the provision.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has also expressed support for the U.S. pulling out of NATO. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Scott Anderson, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the provision paves the way for a legal battle should the executive branch attempt to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from the alliance.
“The logic is, essentially, you’re teeing up a fight if the president tries to do this without Congress … it specifically does enact exactly that sort of prohibition and says, essentially, we’re going to litigate this out and take it to the Supreme Court if you try and do this, which is the most Congress can do,” Anderson told Fox News Digital.
Even so, Anderson noted that it’s not completely clear who would have legal standing to challenge an effort to withdraw from NATO, although Anderson said service members or people who own property in NATO countries are some who could arguably have standing and challenge the move.
Most Americans maintain a favorable opinion of NATO, although support has dropped slightly in recent years. Fifty-eight percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the military alliance, according to a survey the Pew Research Center released in May 2024. However, that’s four percentage points from the previous year, the survey said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urged NATO allies to beef up defense contributions to the alliance in February.
“NATO should pursue these goals as well,” Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels in February. “NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.”
“We must make NATO great again,” he said.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has called on NATO allies to bolster defense spending. (Getty Images)
As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending, amounting to $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years.
Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as Trump has long advocated.
NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union.
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