Niall Ferguson

It will take a while to repair, if indeed it can be repaired.

Part two, look, the standard view in this part of the world is alliances have been absolutely crucial.

The reason the United States won the Cold War was its alliances.

And many American secretaries of state have said this.

It's almost a standard form for administrations up until this one.

And what distinguished President Trump in both his first and second term is his disdain for allies and his view that they are essentially on the take, that they take advantage of the United States.

And he set out to change that.

Now, before you say this is terrible and crazy and, you know, we all should prepare for the end of civilization...

Bear in mind that for 50 years, American presidents have said to the Europeans, hey, you know what?

You guys really don't pay, like, enough.

For sure, yeah.

Considering that you're as rich as we are, pretty much.

Why is it that we bear 60 or more percent of the cost of NATO?

The first president to get the Europeans to act, to commit to a significant increase in their defense spending, is President Trump.

And that commitment that happened last year, I think was important.

But...

It hasn't really translated into much meaningful rearmament so far, even in Germany, which has certainly voted the means.

They've passed very significant fiscal measures, but rearmament is going at a snail's pace and certainly not fast enough to meaningfully alter the situation in Ukraine.

So I think part of what we're seeing here is more pressure on the Europeans and

to make them think, gee, the Americans might really check out a NATO.