It’s always gratifying to see a serious pundit take a position one has oneself taken. So it was with a warming of the heart that I saw Srdja Trifkovic’s long opinion piece in the March issue of Chronicles magazine, title: “Pulling the Plug on NATO.“

The sky won't fall if Trump gets to ditch NATO. https://t.co/bjPejZaGte

— Dennis Callahan (@ExNEguy) March 15, 2024

Trifkovic’s article was inspired by a piece written by neocon champion Anne Applebaum in the current issue of The Atlantic.

What happens to NATO if Trump wins? https://t.co/1d1mVcGe4L

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) December 4, 2023

Title of her article: "Trump Will Abandon NATO." Which, of course, Ms. Applebaum thinks is a terrifying prospect.

Trifkovic warms us up with a swipe at Ms. Applebaum’s record:

Keep in mind that in her long journalistic career, Applebaum has never offered a sound insight, or even an interesting observation, about any issue of importance.

He then does an excellent summary of the case against us remaining in NATO. That is not, as I always take care to point out, a case against NATO.

It is perfectly rational for a nation like Poland to fear Russian imperialism, and to seek alliances with neighboring countries for mutual defense.

The territorial squabbles of the Eastern Slavs are, however, none of our business, and have no relevance to our national interests. NATO should be recast as EUTO, a European treaty organization.

Trifkovic also hopes, as I do, that Donald Trump, if he gets a second Presidency, will show better judgment in personnel hiring than he did the first time.

Donald Trump’s inability during his first term to make reasonable (let alone solid) personnel choices and his propensity to appoint backstabbing saboteurs and outright foes to his innermost circle was the greatest single failure of his presidency. The enemies within Trump’s cabinet gave a clear signal to the rest of America’s neoconservative/neoliberal policy apparatus that—for as long as they occupied the White House—the nominal chief executive could be ignored with impunity. Their infiltration rendered Trump just a transient headache that would pass and which may never be allowed to make a comeback.

Trifkovic elsewhere names names: former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Secretaries of State Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo, and even Vice President Mike Pence.

As I said, I share Trifkovic’s hope there. The problem here is common to leadership in all kinds of situations, though.

It may be brave and good of me to storm the enemy’s stronghold at the head of my troops. If I am too far out ahead of them, though, I may find myself alone in the stronghold surrounded by the enemy. My choice then is to do their will, or die. Possibly this explains Giorgia Meloni’s betrayal.

Well, let’s just hope that someone with the ear of President Trump in the 2025 White House is a reader of Chronicles, or a reader of VDARE.com.