NATO allies are gathering in Washington for a summit this week, and the prospect that Donald Trump, the military alliance’s most prominent critic, may return to power is dominating discussions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON — Growing skepticism about President Joe Biden’s reelection chances<\/u><\/a> has European leaders heading to the NATO summit in Washington confronting the prospect that the military alliance’s most prominent critic, Donald Trump, may return to power over its mightiest military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NATO \u2014 made up of 32 European and North American allies committed to defending one another from armed attack \u2014 will stress strength through solidarity as it celebrates its 75th anniversary during the summit starting Tuesday. Event host Biden, who pulled allies into a global network to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion<\/u><\/a>, has called the alliance the most unified it has ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But behind the scenes, a dominant topic will be preparing for possible division, as the power of far-right forces unfriendly to NATO grows in the U.S. and other countries, including France<\/u><\/a>, raising concerns about how strong support will stay for the alliance and the military aid that its members send to Ukraine<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the presidential debate, Biden asked Trump: \u201cYou\u2019re going to stay in NATO or you\u2019re going to pull out of NATO?\u201d Trump tilted his head in a shrug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden’s poor debate performance<\/u><\/a> set off a frenzy about whether the 81-year-old president is fit for office<\/u><\/a> or should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even before the debate, European governments were deep in consultations on what they could do to ensure that NATO, Western support for Ukraine<\/u><\/a> and the security of individual NATO countries will endure should Trump win back the presidency in November and temper U.S. contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Americans and Europeans call it \u201cTrump-proofing\u201d NATO \u2014 or \u201cfuture-proofing\u201d it when the political advances of far-right political blocs<\/u><\/a> in Europe are factored in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week’s summit, held in the city where the mutual-defense alliance was founded in 1949, was once expected to be a celebration of NATO’s endurance. Now, a European official said, it looks \u201cgloomy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two reasons for the gloom: Russian advances on the battlefield<\/u><\/a> in the months that Trump-allied congressional Republicans delayed U.S. arms and funding to Ukraine<\/u><\/a>. And the possibility of far-right governments<\/u><\/a> unfriendly to NATO coming to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The official spoke to reporters last week on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations among governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow on NATO with the nonpartisan think tank the Atlantic Council, says she has a blunt message for Europeans: \u201cFreaking out about a second Trump term helps no one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For allies at the summit, she said, the key will be resisting the temptation to dwell on the details of unprecedented events in U.S. politics and put their heads down on readying Western military aid for Ukraine<\/u><\/a> and preparing for any lessening of U.S. support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, who before and after his presidency has spoken admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/u><\/a> and harshly of NATO<\/u><\/a>, often focuses his complaints on the U.S. share of the alliance’s costs. Biden himself, as a U.S. senator in 1997, warned that if there were any sense other NATO allies were \u201ctaking the United States for suckers<\/u><\/a>, the future of the alliance in the next century will be very much in doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union lulled the West into thinking the Russian threat had been neutralized, leading to military spending cuts. Now, NATO allies are bolstering their forces against any wider aggression by Putin, and a record 23 nations in NATO are meeting defense-spending goals<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of Trump’s former national security advisers, John Bolton, says Trump in a second term would work to get the U.S. out of NATO. Congress passed legislation last year making that harder, but a president could simply stop collaborating in some or all of NATO’s missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elections in France<\/u><\/a> saw a NATO-adverse far-right party under Marine Le Pen greatly increase the number of seats it holds in parliament. Far-right forces also are gaining in Germany<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some European officials and analysts say that’s simply the rise and fall of voter allegiance in democracies, which NATO has dealt with before. They point to Poland, where a right-wing party lost power<\/u><\/a> last year and whose people have been among NATO’s most ardent supporters. They also note Italy, where right-wing populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has won praise as an ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In part in response to the United States’ political upheaval, Europeans say they want to \u201cinstitutionalize\u201d support for Ukraine within NATO, lessening the dependence on the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n European allies also failed to get enough weapons to Ukraine during the delay in a U.S. foreign aid package, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged in a visit to Washington last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s \u201cone of the reasons why I believe that we should have a stronger NATO role \u2014 is that role in providing the support,\u201d Stoltenberg told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n