As I pointed out in the previous post, Trump never liked NATO and didn’t want to be tied down by those strategic alliances. This article from Politico shows it clearly, reporting on a time Trump said exactly that to world leaders while he was President.

Trump vowed he’d ‘never’ help Europe if it’s attacked, top EU official says

‘By the way NATO is dead,’ the former (and potential future) US president added in private meeting.

BRUSSELS — One of Europe’s most senior politicians recounted how former U.S. President Donald Trump privately warned that America would not come to the EU’s aid if it was attacked militarily.

“You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you,” Trump told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2020…

“By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO,” Trump also said…

Brussels is rife with fear about the possibility Trump will return to the U.S. presidency.

Trump’s reelection seems likely to upend the world order as it exists today and has existed since NATO was founded after World War II. For all the many faults of that alliance, the nations within it have generally enjoyed peace and prosperity through these years.

But autocrats and wannabe dictators like Trump crave chaos, not peace and prosperity. Chaos usually favors the dictator, because when people are stressed and endangered they look to the strongman to save them. They will be more inclined to give up their own power in search of safety. And they will likely end up with neither.

ETA: One word edit for clarity, “usually” replaced “always”.