nATO, EUKnut Robert Knutsen Europeans DO provide for their own damned defense AND they’ve come to the aid of the US when attacked. Literally. Under the NATO agrreements for mutual defense so far only invoked in support of the US.
The US wants power and influence on a global scale and the ability to move its troops wherever they want.
Without being in NATO (presuming a hostiole breakup) , the US can kiss goodbye to any attempt to get warships through the straits of Gibraltar or flying military planes over Europe, or accessing European intelligence gathering data.
Without a military alliance with Japan, the US will have real problems maintaining a military relationship with Taiwan and South Korea.
Many Americans seem to naiely think that US millitary alliances with other countries are some sort of one sided charity donations that US citizens give to other countries.
They are in reality part of the US asserting itself as the global superpower, giving the US enormous military, political and economical influence across the Globe.
The US not only benefits in terms of power, but US corporations benefit financially as well.
The US actually profits from this spending in a large number of ways. The entire post WWII boom in the US is in large parts based on the ability of the US to expand into the markets of its newfound military alliances. Markets that would otherwise be very protectionist.
Which is why we Europeans find such arguments more annoying and tiring than realistic.
While the average American may believe that US foreign defense spending is “charity”, the people making the actual decisions (Trump and his cronies excepted, possibly) know how much the US profits from those relationships.
Yes, the US haggles over the cost, but there is no way in hell they’re pulling out.