U.S. Reducing Their Participation in NATO

Can't wait for the massive economic fallout from that

Partnerships are about give and take. | Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

In a time when the U.S. is dropping partnerships and damaging its own alliances left right and center, Trump has decided to make matters worse by starting to pull assistance back from his most powerful international card.

The U.S. is now stepping back from NATO. Not completely — just enough to withdraw troops and assistance and ‘force Europe and Canada to provide their own defence.’

Oh, we’re working on that, Donald.

We’re even partnering up to make you obsolete. There’s even some chatter about Canada joining the EU, alongside other strategic additions of several smaller countries that would allow the EU to force project in a way that used to be uniquely American.

You don’t want to be relied on? Fine. No soft power for you.

And that’s the issue, here. Trump doesn’t understand soft power. To him, ‘soft’ means ‘weak.’ But when it comes to international force and influence, soft power is anything but. It’s the strongest and most versatile tool in a country’s arsenal.

See, strong alliances, dependence and influence make a country like the U.S. invaluable. It makes other nations turn to you first when they have a problem, which gives you leverage and clout that you would otherwise lack.

Other nations didn’t just turn to the U.S. for defence, they turned to you for everything.

Entertainment, humanitarian aid, economic partnerships, diplomatic assistance — anything and everything. That is why you used to be a superpower, Donald. Because you were the name on everybody’s lips. You were the Mafia Don who held all the cards.

Now, for some reason, you’ve decided to give up half the deck and play on the only face card you have left — the military. And don’t get me wrong, that’s a strong card.

But it loses more than half of its strength without the cooperation of international allies.

You pull your troops out of bases in other countries and consolidate them at home, you can’t force project. Your prior ability to get anywhere at a moment’s notice and back up your words with force disappears overnight.

Without NATO, you’re not quite toothless, but you’ve lost your fangs.

Giving up soft power means giving up everything that you’ve built. No economic partnerships. No more diplomatic deals. No more sneaky pro-U.S. propaganda in the entertainment industry if you keep pissing everybody off like this.

The U.S. can’t completely drop NATO, at least not yet. But pulling back, on top of all of the anti-NATO rhetoric Trump’s been spewing for years, is a bad sign.

Especially now. Daddy Putin must be so proud.

Solidarity wins.

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