I have no idea what Trump is thinking, or what he said, but NATO is an anachronism . . .

Donald Trump says NATO is 'obsolete' — here are the stats that suggest he's wrong

. . . which allows European countries to free ride on US military power. Let's be honest, NATO is a mutual defense treaty, but only Britain would come to America's defense. And virtually zero of the other NATO nations, other than the US and Britain provide any significant number of troops in any conflict. 

"Although NATO is based almost exclusively in Europe, and was primarily formed as a military alliance against the Soviet Union, it has a global reach and has participated in military operations throughout the world. 

Globally, NATO is playing a role in combating Somali piracy off the Horn of Africa. Operation Ocean Shield, launched in 2009, has helped to drastically cut down on piracy and has helped stabilize shipping lanes in the region. 

Close by in Ethiopia, NATO bases its support to the African Union. The operation helps provide training and operational capacities at the Union's request. And in Afghanistan, NATO continues to lead Resolute Support, a noncombat mission that provides training to the Afghan military. 

In Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014, NATO also played a key role in combat operations in the country. From August 11, 2003, to 2011, NATO led the International Security Assistance Force. 

And NATO is likely to play a major role in helping to combat ISIS, especially now following the terror attacks in member nations Brussels and Turkey. A majority of the nations that are part of the anti-ISIS coalition are already NATO members."

So, it's really just UN Peacekeeping without the dysfunction, rapes, sexual slavery, etc? I though it was all about the USSR, now Russia? No? 

"In this regard, Donald Trump is slightly right to question the ongoing worth of the NATO alliance. According to NATO's latest annual report released on June 22, 2015, only Estonia, Poland, the UK, Greece, and the US were projected to meet the 2% spending threshold in 2015.

This problem in spending caused then-NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to warn member nations in 2014 against becoming "free-riders" under the umbrella of US military protection."

"Becoming?" Are! Without the US there would be no NATO, the Europeans have no heart or stomach to protect themselves, and we should not constantly act as the parent and come to the rescue. 

We need to re think this entire fiasco. Perhaps it is time for the US to leave NATO so that the Europeans, the children living in their parents basement, can live on their own, and build their own protective alliances. Return the US to a less intrusive role. That would free us to build new and more necessary alliances with the former Eastern European nations, and other nations. We have spent the past 70+ years protecting Europe, after paying for their post WWII reconstruction. This allowed them to build bloated safety net welfare states which they cannot now afford, and so they again short their military expenditures, and prepare to allow the US to protect them afresh. 

Europe, we really don't intend to come back, and fight your butts out of another conflagration. You are knee deep in muslim extremists, and you seem to have no sense at all. We are not going to bail you out of this mess. This is very likely to devolve into a civil war, and if the Islamists have half a brain, they will simply move to and take over one of the smaller European nations, and then build from there. But they are wankers so this is probably not a serious threat.

I did not think any of this would happen until well after 2020. But the timetable seems to have been accelerated. 

Only by the US leaving NATO will the Europeans understand the seriousness of their situation, and begin to take action, or fail to take action. I am fine with either. 

With Russia weakening due to low oil prices, the state of Eastern Europe is much more precarious, and our attentions need to be focused there, instead of the dilettante nations of the West. 

If I agree with Trump it is purely an accident.