U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger says he's not yet ready to support Donald Trump for president, and he doesn't support any other candidate. The Channahon Republican is highly critical of Trump's foreign policy positions, especially regarding NATO.

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger can’t bring himself to support anyone for president. The Republican from Channahon can’t see himself ever voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and he doesn’t agree with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

As for Donald Trump, the GOP candidate, Kinzinger says he can’t support him, at least “not yet.”

And, in an interview Tuesday with the Editorial Board, Kinzinger laughed off a rumor that he might be a candidate this year. “I could only get on 20 state ballots at this point,” he said. “No, I’m not running.”

Kinzinger said he went to the GOP convention in Cleveland with an open mind on Trump, whom he did not support during the primary elections.

“He’d been quiet for a couple of weeks. Then on Wednesday morning (of the convention) he made his comments about NATO, (The North American Treaty Organization) and I said, ‘Nope.’ ”

What Trump did was to question NATO’s Article 5, the compact that says if one member is attacked, all are attacked. This founding principle protected western Europe since the end of World War II, first against Soviet expansionism, and today against Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempt to revive the grandeur and expanse of the pre-1917 Russian Empire.

Since the Soviet Union collapsed on Dec. 31, 1991, the number of NATO members has gradually expanded to 28.

Trump said in an interview at the convention that he might not support Article 5.

“I don’t know why he said it,” Kinzinger said. “I’m coming to believe he really believes what he’s saying. When you say you might not support Article 5 … that’s the only reason to have NATO.”

Article 5 has been invoked just once, Kinzinger said, and that was when Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. “And it was invoked by those nations who Trump says aren’t paying their fair share.”

Payment is a legitimate issue, though, and Kinzinger notes that every administration has stressed the need for NATO nations to contribute the agreed on 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense. In 2015, according to defenseone.com, just five of the 28 members were expected to meet that goal; the U.S. at 3.6 percent; followed by Greece at 2.4 percent; Poland at 2.2 percent; the UK at 2.1 percent and Estonia at 2 percent.

“We have always said that NATO members need to pay 2 percent of GDP. We address that every time we have a NATO meeting. But to play this mafia game of ‘We’re not going to protect you unless you pay,’ well, I’m not a mercenary and I’m not in the protection racket,” said Kinzinger, a captain in the Air National Guard and former Air Force pilot.

“We have troops deployed in various places around the world. Countries don’t need to pay us for defense. It’s good if they do — South Korea pays us half the cost of being there there — but we’re not there for their sake, we’re there for our sake.”

Kinzinger criticized other Trump positions that are potentially destabilizing including letting Japan and South Korea acquire nuclear weapons and not opposing Russia’s forced annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Kinzinger also is critical of Trump’s treatment of a Muslim family whose son, a captain in the U.S. Army, was killed in 2004 in the Iraq war. Trump verbally attacked the late soldier’s Gold Star parents, who spoke out at the Democratic convention about Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims coming into the country.

Trump was hit by blistering criticism by the VFW, and leading GOP allies, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who refused to defend Trump's statements. But instead of dropping the subject, Trump continued attacking the family’s integrity for four days. Trump's tirade did not help his campaign. Rather, it just gave the controversy more exposure.

“I didn’t know this family had spoken until Trump made big deal about it,” Kinzinger said.

“He can’t not be in the spotlight. This is extremely disappointing, which would be a mild way to say it, that a guy who dodged the draft a number of times, is going to make a comment about the sacrifice of family who has lost their son.”

Chuck Sweeny: 815-987-1366; csweeny@rrstar.com; @chucksweeny