At a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, Donald Trump said that he met with “the president of a big country,” who asked him, “Well sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia – will you protect us?”

Trump said he responded:.

“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said: ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay.”

European leaders were shocked by Trump’s casual dismissal of Article 5 of NATO, which binds every member nation to defend any other nation that is attacked. Since NATO was created in 1949, in response to the Soviet threat, Article 5 has been invoked only once, in aid of the United States on September 11, 2001. NATO has kept the peace, as it was meant to do. The USSR has never invaded a NATO nation, which may explain why so many former Soviet satellites weee eager to join NATO.

Thirty-one nations now belong to NATO.

Trump doesn’t understand how it works, so The Washington Post tried to explain it, in hopes that he reads it.

NATO member nations all make payments to cover the operating expenses of the organization, which was founded in the aftermath of World War II to help Western Europe counter the Soviet Union with help from Canada and the United States. But they don’t pay membership fees to remain in the alliance, so there’s no delinquency to speak of.

Countries do, however, commit to spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense each year, with the goal of ensuring the alliance’s military readiness and deterring any potential attacks. The commitment is a guideline, not a requirement, that has been in place for nearly two decades.

Last year, 11 countries met or exceeded that target, according to NATO statistics. The rest spent smaller portions of their GDP on defense. (Iceland, the only member state with no armed forces, is omitted from the data set.)

The nation that spent the most on military readiness was Poland, perhaps because of the years it was subjugated by the USSR.

Second was the United States.

The other nine that met the goal of at least 2% were: Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Latvia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Slovakia.

The nations that Trump is offering up to Putin as targets for invasion are: France, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Slovenia, Turkey, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg. None of these countries met their 2% of GDP goal for military spending.

If you have been thinking of vacationing in any of the unprotected nations, like France, Germany, or Spain, it would be best to plan your trip in 2024. Should Trump be elected, those nations might be battlefields or Russian satellites.