Trump's threats to pull US out of NATO won't make his war popular
President Donald Trump's "little excursion" into war with Iran has morphed into a more than a month-long slog, despite his nonstop assertions that his ill-defined mission has been accomplished and that the hostilities will wrap up soon.
And there are two easy predictions to make when Trump is in a bind: He will never accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions, and he'll always blame a familiar nemesis instead.
That's why Trump wants you to focus your fury about the rising cost of gasoline on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the 32-nation pact known as NATO that he has spent a solid decade trashing as obsolete.
In an interview published April 1, Trump told British newspaper The Telegraph that NATO is a "paper tiger" and that he's considering withdrawing America from the alliance. That's because our allies, whom Trump didn't consult before bombing Iran, aren't eager to help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil shipments.
This should make for an awkward scene when NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visits Washington, DC, on April 8 to meet with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Before that meeting, Trump should really check in with Rubio about walking away from NATO.
And the president might also want to talk to his Republican allies in the U.S. Senate. Because as much as talk of dropping out of NATO might thrill Trump's old........
