NATO on the brink: However surreal it may seem, it is entirely possible to imagine this White House walking away from NATO, which refuses to do what it’s told. This president swears by unilateral action and perceives NATO as costing him billions without doing his bidding, witness Iran. The alliance’s chief, a Washington sycophant, recently tried to insist on NATO’s relevance after a meeting with the president, saying at least 500 American airstrikes had originated from Italian bases, a remark Italy immediately denied and NATO swiftly retracted. Washington, it seems, would prefer to save money and return to a pre–World War II posture, a dangerous game. It is not even clear — given the strong America-first movement of the time — whether Franklin Roosevelt would have intervened against Nazi Germany had the Japanese not forced his hand. Now, in an interdependent era comes an interdependence-denier. Should Vladimir Putin’s Russia decide to challenge Poland (which is manufacturing drones for Ukraine), it will likely be up to Poland and its NATO partners to deal with the consequences. In such a scenario, this new White House will respond only if it suits the president, under no circumstances deploying American troops, leaving that chore to a weakened NATO. Why, you may ask, this exaggerated and ruinous posture? In large part, because the Europe that defines NATO is increasingly reluctant to invest in American tech companies and by now it should be obvious to all that this is a vindictive commander-in-chief, who literally cannot abide those who vex him. So it is that Europe and NATO’s check may face an improbable checkmate.