WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US President Joe Biden on Tuesday
condemned "dumb" and "shameful" comments by Donald Trump on NATO, in one of
the incumbent's most blistering attacks yet on his likely Republican rival in
November's election.

The 81-year-old Democrat accused his predecessor of bowing to Russian
President Vladimir Putin, after Trump said he would encourage Moscow to
attack NATO members who failed to meet financial commitments.

"For God's sake, it's dumb, it's shameful, it's dangerous, it's un-American,"
Biden said in a televised address from the White House to urge the House of
Representatives to pass vital war aid for Ukraine.

"Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The
whole world heard it. And the worst thing is he means it," he added.

"No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator.
Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will."

Washington's allies reacted with alarm after Trump made his most extreme
broadside yet against the US-led military alliance -- even by his standards
of long-term NATO-bashing.

Biden used Trump's comments to fuel his election attack line against Trump --
who was impeached twice as president and now faces a series of criminal
trials -- as a threat to democracy.

In his remarks from the state dining room at the White House, he accused the
real estate tycoon of acting like an organized crime boss when it came to the
alliance.

"When he looks at NATO, he doesn't see the alliance that protects America and
the world. He sees a protection racket," Biden said.

Biden added that if Trump's allies in the House fail to follow the lead of
the Senate and pass a bill with billions of dollars in military assistance
for Ukraine, then they will be playing into Putin's hands.

Trump made the comments at a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday,
describing what he said was a conversation with a fellow head of state at an
unspecified NATO meeting.

"One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we
don't pay, and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' I said, 'You
didn't pay, you're delinquent? No, I would not protect you,'" Trump told his
supporters.

"In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want."

A defiant Trump later defended his comments, saying he had made NATO "strong"
by making allies meet defense spending targets when he was in office from
2017-2021.

Trump has a long history of praising the Kremlin leader, for example calling
him a "genius" and more credible than US intelligence.

He has also said that as president, he could settle the Ukraine war within 24
hours.