Back in London, I attended conferences with the usual and unusual suspects, some high up the political and defense flag poles.

The topic, not of the day but of the whole year, was about what President Trump has wrought and what the United Kingdom and Europe can do about it. The answers weren't reassuring — and that's not an understatement.

With a mix of sadness that the cherished “special relationship” born during World War II seems now gone, outright worry and concern were the disconcerting responses.

The answer was simple. With a global international structure underwritten by a combination of American power, hard-headed realism that is sometimes imperfect, as in Vietnam and later conflicts, and goodwill, Trump was single-handedly deconstructing 80 years of success.

Uncertainty of future American commitment to NATO (or should we say Trump’s) and, for the time being, Trump's embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin in forging a peace in Ukraine is never comforting.

Trump’s unpredictability in changing course without warning or explanation is another problem. The idea of forcing NATO to carry more of its defense burden — or else — is contradicted by statements........

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