Axios: NATO’s Trump-induced coma

Posted on April 3, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
NATO’s Trump-induced coma
 
Photo illustration of President Trump's hand plucking the U.S. flag out from a line of NATO flags.
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
 
NATO is a promise, and now it’s broken, write Axios’ Dave Lawler and Zachary Basu.

The alliance was built on the premise that an attack on one member is an attack on all. President Trump has made that conditional: If you won’t help me in my war, I might not show up for yours.

Trump and his team have fumed at NATO allies for denying the U.S. logistical help or access to their airspace or military bases to carry out attacks against Iran. He called them “cowards” for refusing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Why it matters: NATO’s mutual-defense framework doesn’t apply to the Iran war, far from the alliance’s territory. But these days could be the death knell for the most powerful and consequential alliance of the past eight decades.

Flashback: This all comes months after Trump threatened to seize Greenland, a territory of ally Denmark, and imposed tariffs on any other allies who stood in his way.

That was one of several increasingly existential crises for NATO that have erupted, then died down, over Trump’s two terms.

Friction point: Taken together, Greenland — and now Iran — have forced European leaders to confront the need for a security architecture that could stand without the American pillar.

Even if they stick to their newly robust spending commitments, it’d take several years to be able to “defend and thereby deter Russia,” and perhaps a decade to fully replace the U.S., says Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“The big question is: Let’s say there is an actual armed attack on NATO. Would there be a political decision [by Trump] to come to the aid of that ally?” Daalder wonders.

Trump has given ample reason to suspect the answer might be no.

For the allies who share a border with an expansionist Russia, that’s a very worrying prospect.

Zoom in: The Iran war is shaping up as a strategic windfall for Moscow, boosting oil revenues and diverting Western attention.

Russian officials and state media are openly reveling in Trump’s attacks on the alliance, casting them as validation of Europe’s weakness and self-sabotage.

What to watch: While Trump is once again dangling a NATO departure, a 2023 law states that no president can withdraw without Congress. But courts could well side with Trump if he decided to test it, Daalder says.Share this story.
Unknown's avatar

About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a comment