NATO Is a Bargain for the US and a Necessity for the Free World

It is a tragedy that this doesn't mean a thing in today's Washington, where Putin's Russia seems to be favored over Europe

The Trump Administration threatens to upend the world’s most successful alliance – that was the clear message that comes out of the leaked “Signalgate” chat. If Americans still want their country to lead the free world, as opposed to being just another big bully on the world stage, they will have to get a clear message across to the Republicans.

At the center of this unfortunate tempest is the Trumpian disdain toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and especially to the European nations who are America’s main partners in that great endeavor. If examined correctly, without pettiness, NATO is a strategic bargain for the U.S. and a bulwark for the free world. It’s good for America and anyone who values democratic order over autocratic aggression. It’s bad for humanity that America, or at least its leadership, no longer does.

But Trumpworld somehow believes that America is being played, and getting a raw deal – and the disdain of top officials like Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for America's closest allies came through loud and clear in the Signal exchange published in The Atlantic, whose editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was the unintended invitee.

Vance actually argued against punishing the Houthis, who have impeded about a quarter of global maritime trade at devastating cost to Egypt’s Suez Canal revenues, because the Europeans use that route more than the U.S. “I just hate bailing Europe out again.” Hegseth argued for the attacks, but added: “I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC.”

There are many things wrong here, of course.