The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and has grown to 32 nations.
Not surprisingly, the United States of America is the largest contributor to the organization, supplying 16 percent of the overall NATO budget and having the largest expenditure on national defense, totaling $980 billion, which is 62 percent of the overall defense spending of all member nations.
Realizing that many nations were freeloading and not contributing their fair share, in 2014, the leadership of NATO mandated that members spend at least two percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense spending. Unfortunately, in 2024, then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that nine member nations had still not met their two percent goal.
The new goal for NATO is for members to spend 3.5 percent of their annual budget on defense spending by 2035. Currently, only three nations have met that goal.
Throughout the history of NATO, the United States has played a leadership role. In recent conflicts, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Kosovo (1999), Libya (2011) and Ukraine (2014 to present), the United States has contributed military personnel, equipment, air strikes, logistical support, and strategic command.
Unfortunately, when the United States needed help in the war in Iran, NATO nations refused to get involved. Not only did these countries decline to help militarily by providing naval vessels to patrol or help secure the Strait of Hormuz, but they also refused to allow our planes to overfly or to access military bases in their nations.
These actions are an unforgivable betrayal of their “big brother,” the nation that has been providing for their military protection for almost eight decades. NATO has become a “one-way street,” with the United States delivering support and getting only lip service in response.
Why should American taxpayers continue to fund an organization that delivers nothing in return?
In fact, there are legitimate questions about why NATO even exists today. It was founded at the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. However, the “evil empire” no longer exists and neither does the Warsaw Pact of communist nations aligned against NATO.
The United States needs to place its own security interests first, which is why President Donald Trump has been so eager to obtain Greenland from Denmark, a NATO nation. Greenland is essential for our country’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense program.
It also has a huge supply of rare earth reserves, with 1.5 million tons, the eighth largest in the world. Long term, access to these vital supplies will help the United States become independent of China, which controls 69.8 percent of the worldwide production of rare earth deposits.
On Friday, the White House posted on social media, “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”
European nations were outraged when the President made a pitch for ownership of Greenland in January and they retaliated in March when they refused to assist with the war in Iran. According to Michael Lucci, founder of State Armor, a national security organization, “The gap between American and European perceptions of security threats is quickly becoming unsustainable.”
Lucci told Newsweek, “European capitals do not perceive the same threats America perceives, and they went out of their way to kneecap us in the Iranian conflict even though the Iranian threat is much closer to Europe than to America.” He continued, “Greenland has dramatic security implications for North America,” and “the gap between American and European perceptions of external threats continues to grow.”
President Trump stated that NATO’s lack of support for the war in Iran is a rupture in the alliance “that will never disappear.” In the view of Jim Townsend, of the Center for a New American Security, “There will be no return to business as usual in NATO, during neither this US administration nor the next one. We are closer to a break than we have ever been.”
To formally leave the alliance, the President will need either “a two-thirds majority in the US Senate or an act of Congress.” Neither scenario is likely to occur, but he can take bold action that would send an unmistakable message to NATO.
The United States has 84,000 troops stationed in Europe in 31 military bases. The President could close those bases and move the troops to friendlier countries or areas facing greater threats.
Last Wednesday, President Trump held a heated meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Afterwards, a White House official said, “As President Trump said yesterday, NATO was tested, and they failed. He has zero expectations for NATO at this point and did not ask them for anything, even though it’s a fact they benefit from the Strait of Hormuz far more than the United States.”
Even Rutte admitted that during his meeting with Trump, “I sensed his disappointment about the fact that he felt that too many allies were not with him.”
With the President announcing a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after peace negotiations failed to secure a deal, European nations are continuing to remain on the sidelines. For example, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he told President Trump, “Following a peace agreement, Germany will help ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, provided there is a mandate and a viable plan for doing so.”
Thus, after the United States secures the peace, NATO will step in, but only when it is safe. These are fair-weather friends, no doubt. These countries have been taking advantage of the United States not only with our military protection, but also with unfair trade deals.
A divorce makes sense, especially since Europe is advancing headlong into multiculturalism, attacks on free speech, and open borders, while the Trump administration moves America in the opposite direction.
Our values and goals are no longer aligned. We must put America first and say goodbye to an alliance built for a bygone era.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from 1-2 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is the President and General Manager of WGSO Radio, a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance, and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and at Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com.