This new chap, Trump 2.0, has been critical of the United States’ involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of which the United States was a founding member. His primary beef is that the non-US members are not doing their fair share.
Is he right? Let us reason together, shall we?
I will start with the conclusion:
The Europeans, NATO members, do not require any assistance from the United States on their continent on which their major adversary is the despicable, uncivilized, Chinese gas station called “Russia” led by the spawn of the Devil, a truly repugnant, murderous thug named Putin.
Why don’t the non-US members of NATO require US assistance?
Let me lay out the case for you, dear reader.
Let’s begin by analyzing our adversary and quantifing the threat. I am taking an economic perspective on the issue. [Chart made using DeepSeek AI software.]
Russia has a population of 144MM, a nominal GDP in USD of $1.9T, a PPP GDP of $5.5MM, spends $86B on defense, and that is 6.5% of GDP. It is a small country when compared to non-US NATO countries.
[PPP is purchasing power parity, a nifty way to compare economic data as it provides context for the local cost of living. So, if the US has a high cost of living and Turkey has a low cost of living then the cost of housing is made comparable by using a PPP approach. If the cost of a Big Mac is different in Dallas, Paris, and London, then PPP equates them to each other. It is a good way to doublecheck economic issues.]
Population
Russia has a population of 144MM whilst the non-US NATO countries have a population of 605MM. Non-US NATO dwarfs Russia.
GDP, Nominal, USD
Russia has a GDP of $1.8T whilst the non-USA NATO countries have a GDP of $23.42T. Russia is tiny. The Russian economy is in trouble with high inflation, weak currency, high interest rates, an absence of foreign investment, a GDP that includes a massive amount of military spending, manpower issues (the best 1MM Russian young men fled the country), and a regime of sanctions that is crushing them. They are whistling by the graveyard.
GDP (PPP, USD)
Russia has a GDP (PPP, USD) of $5.5T while non-US NATO has a similar GDP of $32.3T.
Defense Spending
Russia $86B, non-US NATO $386B. Read that again. Non-US NATO spending currently is 5X the Russians.
Defense as a % of GDP
Russia 6.5%, non-US NATO 2.5%.
So, what’s the beef, Big Red Car?
The beef is this — since the end of World War II, the Europeans have grown increasingly comfortable with allowing the pliable and naive Americans to shoulder the responsibility to defend them from the Russians. The dumb Americans have allowed this to happen since the Berlin Airlift.
Because Russia and the United States are arguably strategic, global adversaries, it makes sense in some scenarios that the US be the leader of the free world as it was in World War II.
Trump 2.0, looking at the same data we just reviewed has four very sober reactions:
1. Non-US NATO should pay the United States for the cost of its defense of Europe. Why not? Why should the American taxpayer pay for the safety from the Russians of the German people?
2. Non-US NATO needs to step up and defend itself without US involvement in the European theater. Why not?
3. NATO costs should be born in greater measure by the non-US NATO nations with a threshold of 2-5% of GDP being spent on their defense as a condition of triggering Article V of the NATO Agreement (attack on one is an attack on all).
4. Non-US NATO should stop trading with Russia, as it’s the enemy of Europe. Buy American natural gas, you morons.
Do you agree with Trump 2.0, Big Red Car?
I think the best possible outcome is the following:
1. Non-US NATO countries immediately accelerate defense spending to 2.5% of GDP. Immediately.
2. Until the non-US NATO countries reach the threshold of 2.5% of GDP, they should pay the Americans the difference.
3. The US should phase out of NATO involvement over the next 10 years and the non-US NATO nations should undertake the defense of their own homes and hearths with the US being a very junior partner.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car, pickleball today
It is time for the United States’ involvement in the defense of Europe through the North Atlantic Treatyh Organization to evolve with the reality of the situation and for the non-US NATO nations to undertake their own defense.
It is time for the accounts to be brought current and to relieve the American taxpayer of the cost of European defense. Give us a fucking break already. This is welfare. Spend the money in America.
One last thought that bears on this: The Russian army has been exposed in the Ukrainian war as a for shit military operation. They have some good electronic countermeasures gear, but across the board they are an inferior, conscript, ill-equipped, poorly led army and the threat to Europe is not what it once was.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.