Trump meets NATO chief as Iran war strains alliance

NATO was formed to combat the expansion of the Soviet Union. That was very important to the US, it wasn't just to defend Europe. When the Soviet Union collapsed the US still viewed the communist authoritarian countries (with Russia at the centre) as a threat. Again, it wasn't just to defend Europe. No country does things out of altruism. The US extends direct military power and soft influence from its presence in NATO countries. The US benefits from intelligence shared from NATO countries. To date, only the US has invoked Article 5 that calls upon members of the NATO alliance to aid the invoking country. Many members of NATO country's militaries died or didn't come back whole (physically and mentally), because they came to the aid of the US when 9/11 happened. They were very much on the front line, no matter what bullshit trump might say. Most members of the NATO alliance have scaled back their military spending over the years and relied on the fact that the US is the most military minded of the alliance, but that doesn't mean that the US doesn't benefit from its vast reach into NATO countries. Apart from the extension of hard and soft power, and the intelligence that feeds into the US from NATO members, the US sells an awful lot of military tech to NATO members. Don't believe all that is said by the current people pulling the US political strings. NATO benefits the US, even if the other members need to raise their military budget, and the loss of NATO directly benefits Russia and China. Many members of trump's circle have connections to Russia, and trump's connections go back decades from his early days as a property developer. Ask who benefits from the end of NATO. It isn't the US.