U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, proposed on Tuesday that the United States withdraw from NATO, citing a peculiar reason related to the U.S. state of Hawaii. He wrote on his account on the platform "X": "The NATO agreement does not affect the state of Hawaii. Some experts say that needs to change. I'm saying let’s withdraw from the other 49 states."
Massie’s statement came in response to a comment from David Santoro, head of the Pacific Forum, during a CNN segment, noting that Hawaii is not included in NATO, particularly in relation to Article 5 concerning collective defense. According to Santoro, the reason the treaty does not extend to Hawaii is that the island is located in the Pacific and not part of the North American continent covered by the document.
The U.S. State Department clarified that while Hawaii is not covered by Article 5 of the NATO treaty, it is subject to Article 4, which pertains to consultations in the event of a threat to territorial integrity, political independence, or security. The issue of U.S. withdrawal from NATO has been previously raised by former President Donald Trump, who is running again for the presidency. Trump expressed dissatisfaction with NATO's activities and threatened that if he wins the presidential election in November, the U.S. will withdraw from NATO if European partners do not take on greater financial responsibility for their security.
