(The Atlantic)– ““I don’t give a shit about NATO.” Thus did former President Donald Trump once express his feelings about America’s oldest and strongest military alliance. Not that this statement, made in the presence of John Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, came as a surprise. Long before he was a political candidate, Trump questioned the value of American alliances. Of Europeans, he once wrotethat “their conflicts are not worth American lives. Pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually.” NATO, founded in 1949 and supported for three-quarters of a century by Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike, has long been a particular focus of Trump’s ire. As president, Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO many times—including, infamously, at the 2018 NATO summit.
But during Trump’s time in office, the withdrawal never happened. That was because someone was always there to talk him out of it. Bolton says he did; Jim Mattis, John Kelly, Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo, and even Mike Pence are thought to have done so too.
But they didn’t change his mind. And if Trump is reelected in 2024, none of those people will be in the White House. All of them have broken with the former president, in some cases dramatically, and there isn’t another pool of Republican analysts who understand Russia and Europe, because most of them either signed statements opposing him in 2016 or criticized him after 2020. In a second term, Trump would be surrounded by people who either share his dislike of American security alliances or don’t know anything about them and don’t care. This time, the ill will that Trump has always felt toward American allies would likely manifest itself in a clear policy change. “The damage he did in his first term was reparable,” Bolton told me. “The damage in the second term would be irreparable.””
Finally, it appears the media has decided to take Donald Trump’s own words seriously. The Atlantic should be applauded for its most recent collection of editorials written by a cast of Trump’s former trusted appointees and advisers. They outline the clear and present danger that a second Trump presidential term would have on the country’s democracy.
The article quoted above is just one example of the integral work these columns provide if given the proper platform. Such important information deserves to gain more mainstream attention if the general public is to properly understand the severity of the constitutional crisis that Trump poses.
Just this past weekend the media promoted, in heavy rotation, Trump declaring that Biden was the real threat to American democracy. Will these powerful condemnations of another Trump presidency gain at least the same amount of traction? As much as I am skeptical, only time will tell.
This specific issue of Trump possibly dismantling the NATO alliance has been a topic that I have sounded alarms on multiple occasions. At the core, it can easily be traced back to his undisguised allegiance with Vladimir Putin. Coupled with his fascination with autocratic leaders and dictators alike. Trump envies the absolute power and retribution ability that comes from a totalitarian regime.
Refreshing as it is to see Trump’s own fellow Republicans voice their concerns about the voters handing the country back to Trump. It still only represents a fraction of Republicans who are still in office. Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday in an interview on CNN, commented that if Trump were in office the war in Ukraine would have never happened. What he fails to realize, is that if Trump not Biden was at the helm, Russia would have taken over Ukraine in days without resistance. The NATO alliance under the Trump Administration would have allowed Russian forces to go unchecked without the backing of U.S. military support.
Putin was always planning on invading Ukraine. He was counting on Trump defeating Biden to clear a path for his aggressions. What would have been an easy undertaking, if Trump had won in 2020. Has turned out to be a fierce battle for Putin with disastrous consequences for Russia’s military power under Biden’s leadership. Biden’s unifying presence has made the NATO allies the ultimate defending force in the world. If Trump were to ever get a second chance to dissolve, it would allow Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea to take a stranglehold over future control of the world.
Without the guardrails in place that prevented Trump in his first term. It would only be a matter of, when not if, the one military deterrent for today’s axis of evil would be gone. Making Trump’s MAGA hats a relic of an oblivious fan base. When Trump’s plan all along was ushering in a new era of red caps that say “Make Russia Great Again”.
For a prior article detailing the Trump campaign’s plans to undermine NATO and Ukraine click the following link
For The Atlantic article quoted click the link below
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