Like Biden, NATO is an Obsolete Liability
USA should look to Trump's GOP platform for defense shift.
Colin Powell, America’s top general during the Gulf War who later served as secretary of state, had a rule about militaries: the ones with the fanciest-dressed soldiers were usually the worst at fighting and vice versa.
This week during the NATO summit in Washington, visitors to the swamp will see some very fancy uniforms.
Leading them are civilians who represent a dying globalist political order and its military alliance. NATO after the Cold War ended in 1991 was mostly just useless, but has increasingly become a costly liability for the United States.
I discussed the summit and Biden’s embarrassing role in the Fox Business video linked above. Some additional talking points:
Biden’s people are deeply pleased that he made it through a 15-minute speech to NATO leaders without becoming disoriented. This low standard speaks for itself.
Visiting leaders have told reporters and officials off the record how Biden seems incapable of leadership.
Globalists advertise NATO as the “most successful alliance in history.” One problem: NATO is losing to Russia in Ukraine.
NATO can’t point to a single success since 1991. (Incidentally, the most successful modern alliance would of course be the “Big Three” USA, Britain, and the Soviet Union, which, along with other allies, won World War II.)
In the new GOP platform, Trump declares: “Republicans will strengthen Alliances by ensuring that our Allies must meet their obligations to invest in our Common Defense and by restoring Peace to Europe.” NATO today is doing the opposite of this.
NATO should be turned back into a defensive alliance and Europeanized. Europe has more people and nearly as much GDP as the USA. It can defend itself. The United States should downgrade its involvement to NATO’s “partnership for peace” program.
European countries like France and Germany have higher tariffs on America than we have on them. This contributes to a persistent trade deficit and costs American jobs. According to the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. goods and services trade deficit with the European Union was $131.3 billion in 2022.
We should raise tariffs on Europe until there is no deficit and it starts paying off its arrears for defense.
Trump’s platform and his presidency prove the importance he places in allies. He strengthened every U.S. alliance during his presidency.
The allies that matter today and in the future are Asian allies like Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea and Middle East allies like Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These countries plus India and Southeast Asia will define the future of the Free World. Europe is for vacations and second-rate wine that is inferior to American wine.
Few national political figures have adequately described the extent of the fiscal crisis facing the federal government. We now spend $7 trillion annually, of which $2 trillion is borrowed. The Congressional Budget Office projects that interest costs this fiscal year will total $892 billion, which nearly exceeded defense spending (and would have were it not for handouts for Ukraine). Annual interest on the debt will soon surpass spending on defense and could double in five years.
Painful cuts to government spending must occur regardless of who wins this fall. There is no room to significantly increase defense spending, which may actually have to be cut. In this situation, we cannot pay for wealthy Europe’s defense.
Ensuring that “our Military is the most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World,” as Trump rightly called for in his GOP platform, while “starting with protecting the American Homeland, our People, our Borders, our Great American Flag, and our Rights under God,” means focusing on fortress America and alliances that matter, not NATO.
Given the broken state of U.S. military procurement (see video below), we should learn the lessons of the Ukraine war, leapfrog a generation of military technology, and cancel over-budget Cold War-style defense platforms. We should prioritize unmanned systems, more small ships, hypersonics and updated and easily deployed nuclear weapons—all of which can be cheaper than legacy conventional forces. If elected, Trump could do this to repeat Eisenhower’s “New Look” defense planning, which saved money while increasing national power.
