Elon Musk shared his support for the US leaving NATO and the UN on Saturday night and was joined in the cause by Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
The head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took to X to write “I agree” to a post stating “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN”
Musk is joined by several Republican lawmakers, such as Lee, who have questioned U.S. membership of NATO.
Lee, who has criticized NATO for quite some time, has said that the alliance is a “great deal for Europe” but a “raw deal for America.” He has suggested that US resources are being used to defend Europe while doing little to protect America.
“Get us out of NATO,” Lee wrote on X on Saturday.
Musk’s statement comes as the Trump administration is making clear that it may turn its back on its traditional allies. That includes America’s future in NATO.
Lee said on X that it was a “good time” to leave the alliance. Trump has on many occasions pushed European nations to spend more on defense, arguing that the US is carrying too heavy a burden to keep the alliance safe.
US Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) speaks during Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice in the Hart Senate Office Building on October 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. He has suggested that the US should leave NATO (Getty Images)
Musk, the richest person in the world, appears to have significant sway in the Trump administration, joining the president for a cabinet meeting and press conferences in the Oval Office. His support for the U.S. to depart NATO may be an indication that the idea is taking hold in the White House.
The US leaving the alliance would significantly change the national security of what has been known as the West. European leaders have shared their concerns regarding Trump’s commitment to the alliance, specifically about Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.
Even as Lee and Musk call for the U.S. to depart the alliance, Trump has continued to speak to NATO allies, welcoming U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House in the past week. But he also had a blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday as Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of not showing enough gratitude to the U.S.
Zelensky has long argued that Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO as a security guarantee against Russia.
Just days after his inauguration, Trump said the U.S. was protecting members of the alliance, but they were “not protecting us.” The president once again pushed for NATO members to spend five percent of their GDP on defense, a level far above the current two percent goal and a level that no member state, including the U.S., currently satisfies.
Last year, Trump said he would urge Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member which failed to meet spending targets — completely disregarding the alliance’s Article 5 that an attack on one is an attack on all. The article has only been used once following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001.
The alliance currently has 32 members — 30 European nations and the US and Canada.
