Madeleine Albright Friday said she has a hard time labeling Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump except in one way: "Weird."
The former secretary of state, who has supported Trump's rival Hillary Clinton for several months, brought down the house at McGillin's Olde Ale House in Philadelphia, from where MSNBC's "Morning Joe" has been broadcasting during this week's Democratic National Convention.
However, she wasn't laughing after she was asked if she thought Trump "could be a Fascist."
"It is hard to label him anything except weird," Albright replied.
"And notice that Secretary Albright says these things and she is not laughing," said show co-host Mika Brzezinski, after the "weird" assessment and other criticisms the former secretary was making of Trump on the morning talk show.
One of Albright's main complaints about Trump comes from his statements about not supporting NATO member countries that don't pay their "fair share" in belonging to the alliance. She said it was difficult to explain her stance in her convention speech that Trump has already caused damages overseas and with the United States' national security interests through his election campaign.
"He was already undercutting NATO at a time we had to show deterrence and determination and try to go protect Poland and the Baltics," said Albright. "It is dangerous."
NATO was established in 1947 after World War II to protect the United States' European allies and keep them strong when the then-Soviet Union was pushing for domination, said Albright, and there is a central article in the agreement that says if one country is attacked, all respond.
Trump has said he would have to "look to see" if he'd defend certain NATO countries. This week, he told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that just five NATO members are paying to be in the alliance, but the United States can't afford to carry them.
"We are funding 73 percent of the cost of NATO," he said. "They have an agreement to reimburse us and pay us and they are not doing it … And then we are supposed to get into World War III."
Albright said she thinks such statements equal "blackmailing" the United States' allies.
"The bottom line is in fact they contribute forces," said Albright, noting that she does think they need to pay their share of the costs, and that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have pushed for that.
"But I think we have to understand what they contribute," said Albright.
She continued that she has not seen a candidate before say the things Trump does about world dictators, in particular Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he has praised for being a better leader than Obama.
Albright also criticized Trump for claiming he was being "sarcastic" when he called on Russia to find and turn over emails missing from Clinton's private server.
"The fact that he can even say that it is sarcastic is a sign that his complete lack of understanding of how, what goes on, who is listening to him," said Albright. "I think partially he thinks he is still on a reality TV show or something ... even sarcasm shows disdain for the complexity of the situation."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.