While the United States is conducting an active war in the Middle East — one started without congressional authorization, one that has killed 13 American service members, one that has driven gas prices above four dollars — the president of the United States is threatening to blow up the 75-year-old military alliance that is supposed to keep the rest of the world stable.
Karoline Leavitt, asked at a press briefing whether Trump is still considering withdrawing from NATO, said: "It's something the president has discussed." She added it could come up in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte later that day. She left the door wide open. No denial. No reassurance. Just confirmation that blowing up the Atlantic alliance is on the table.
NATO's Article 5 collective defense commitment is the foundational security guarantee for 32 countries across North America and Europe. U.S. withdrawal would end that commitment, eliminate the most powerful military alliance in human history, and leave every European democracy to rearm and defend itself against a Russia that is actively fighting in Ukraine and has shown zero interest in respecting territorial borders. It would be the single largest voluntary destruction of American geopolitical power since the country's founding.
Vance Was in Hungary Campaigning for Orbán
While all of this was happening — while the Iran war was raging, while Trump was threatening to destroy civilizations, while allies were distancing themselves — JD Vance flew to Budapest to campaign alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of Hungary's election. Vance called Orbán someone who "does a good job" when asked whether he was interfering in a foreign election. He said he found it "darkly ironic" that people accused him of foreign influence. This is the Vice President of the United States. In Hungary. Stumping for an authoritarian. While the country he is supposed to be helping lead is at war.
For context: Orbán is one of the only NATO members who has consistently sided with Russia over Ukraine, blocked NATO aid packages, and openly described Putin as a reasonable leader. Vance chose to go campaign for him. That's the foreign policy of this administration in a single image.
European Allies Are Already Pulling Back
Once-aligned MAGA-friendly European nationalists have begun publicly distancing themselves from Trump's Iran war. European governments broadly expressed alarm at Trump's civilization-annihilation threats. France called for de-escalation. Australia said it was "disappointing" talks collapsed. The international isolation is not hypothetical — it is already happening, and a NATO withdrawal threat accelerates it dramatically.
The man threatening to blow up NATO is the same man who started a war without congressional authorization and is now blockading Iranian ports. This is the most reckless foreign policy posture by any American president in living memory.
Why This Doesn't Get Enough Attention
The Iran war dominates the news cycle because it is immediate and visceral. But the slow-motion dismantling of the post-WWII security architecture — NATO, international law, congressional war powers, alliances — is the story underneath all of it. Trump has been threatening NATO since 2017. He's never followed through because the institutional resistance has been real. But in a second term with a hollowed-out State Department, a cowed Congress, and a base that no longer cares about traditional alliances, the threat is more credible than it has ever been.
If he pulls out of NATO, no executive order, no election, no court decision reverses that damage in any near-term timeframe. It is one of the few decisions a president can make that is genuinely irreversible at human scale. And his press secretary just confirmed it's on the table.
Sources
- NBC News: Leavitt confirms NATO withdrawal "something the president has discussed"; Vance in Hungary with Orbán; Vance "darkly ironic" quote on foreign interference allegations.
- Democracy Now!: "Will the U.S. and Europe Break Up? Trump Says He May Pull Out of NATO as Iran War Criticism Mounts" — European nationalist allies distancing from Trump's Iran war.