By Askold Lozynskyj
“NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over thirty years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk U.S. involvement in foreign wars. Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket—especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense,” Republican Congressman Massie from Kentucky said, according to a press release.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the “Not a Trusted Organization Act,” or “NATO Act” in the Senate earlier this year. Representative Massie is now fielding companion legislation in the House.
Frankly this should definitely not be a shock nor even a surprise. The Trump administration has called global warming a hoax, insisted on inviting Vladimir Putin to the G7 meeting and stated clearly that NATO must stop expanding. As a result and frankly not surprisingly, America has been missing in action at the environment conference in Belem, Brazil, the G20 Summit in Johannesburg and the most recent NATO foreign ministers conference in Brussels.
What more can the Trump administration do to manifest clearly before the world that America under President Trump has gone rogue.
And so what is the immediate fallout? Putin may be emboldened but he certainly has acted psychotically to date so rational events mean little. His prognosis had been that Ukraine would fall within a week. European leaders have recognized that today America is very ill and so at least for the time being Europe has to deal with its own existential issues. Having America behind you at all times was very comforting, but the fact of the matter is that NATO without America is a viable concept at least in the near term.
America will come back to its senses. That is a comforting thought shared by normal Americans, Europeans and Ukrainians. In the meantime, the democratic rational world has to step up. The irony here is that America is no longer a part of the democratic rational world. All branches of government, not unlike in Russia, are controlled by one man. In Russia that one man is a killer. In America that man is a psychotic narcissist.
Perhaps, there is a question as to whether Senator Lee and Representative Massie are acting at the behest of Donald Trump or at the very least with his blessing. There are cracks in the Republican armour as expressed recently by a former Trump acolyte Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Was she moved to resign by a conflict with her prior unofficial boss or did she simply become comfortable having increased her financial net worth ten-fold in four years of public service. Frankly it does not matter.
I continue to be surprised when the American mainstream press writes about the one hundred million Ukrainian corruption scandal which is being investigated by both Ukrainians and
Europeans. The blame attributed to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is that he somehow “let it happen”. There are no allegations that he personally benefited.
I need to point out that American corruption on the other hand is blatant, on the highest level and huge. The family of the President of the United States has made billions of dollars in personal wealth since Donald Trump took office. This does not include illicit money that was made during Trump’s previous corrupt term. His son-in-law walked away with two billion dollars from the Saudis. His daughter received a number of patents from the Chinese.
That is the point frankly. Whether America under Trump cares about the environment or global security under this regime is a temporary problem. There is another point. For the first time in America we have a regime, not an administration. One way or the other Trump will be out by 2029. His control of the legislative branch will probably be extinguished at least in one house by 2027. The Supreme Court will remain a problem for some time but the worst elements such as Thomas, Alito and Roberts may be dealt with by a higher power.
America really needs to clean its own house. Currently it faces a crisis not unlike when the very existence of the Union was under question. Perhaps, equally important, today the Constitution itself has become irrelevant.
December 11, 2025