A Second Trump Presidency Would Endanger the Stability of the Free World
"There’s actually no way to Trump-proof NATO."
The threat posed by Donald Trump lends extraordinary gravity to the agonizing reconsideration of President Joe Biden’s candidacy. Leading Democrats genuinely fear Trump could end the American experiment.
And as this week’s summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reminds us, the threat to democracy extends far beyond the borders of the United States. A second Trump presidency would endanger the viability of an alliance that has brought stability and security to Europe and the free world for the last 75 years.
Trump does not believe in NATO. He weakened it as president. Former national security aides believe the self-styled “America First” champion would weaken it further in a second term, perhaps withdrawing America’s participation and risking renewal of long-suppressed intra-European conflict.
“Allies are right to be worried, and Americans are right to be worried,” cautions Kori Schake, director of Foreign Policy Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “There’s actually no way to Trump-proof NATO.”
In fact, vanishingly few Americans worry about NATO. Their indifference signifies the alliance’s success in preserving the U.S.-led global order.
The U.S. and 11 European allies birthed NATO after two world wars ravaged the continent in the first half of the 20th century and left them in a Cold War with the Communist-ruled Soviet Union. They sought to deter Soviet expansionism, prevent a revival of militant nationalism within their own borders, and help knit Europe more closely together militarily, politically, and economically. They’ve mostly succeeded through countless shifts in member governments and the seven Democrats and seven Republicans who have occupied the White House.
But Trump stood out as a menace. He demeaned America’s pre-eminent role within the alliance, casting the security umbrella we provide as a giveaway by the world’s most powerful military to a continent of moochers.