European leaders should have started preparing for another Trump presidency long ago. They had been warned.
Now, leaders should envisage a world where NATO no longer exists—or where the United States is no longer the leading force in the alliance, writes Phillips Payson O’Brien, Professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland. He is the author of The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler—How War Made Them, and How They Made War.
"In some ways, this is more scary psychologically than in practice. Europe—which is to say, the democratic countries enmeshed in institutions such as NATO and the European Union—has the economic and technological resources to underwrite a serious defense effort. It has a large and educated enough population to staff modern armed forces. It also has some strong and growing military capabilities. For instance, European states either have received or will receive in the coming years as many as 600 F-35 fighters—the most advanced and capable aircraft in the world. Such a force could dominate the skies against a clearly inferior Russian opponent."
I have to say, that was a sub-par attempt at a straw man argument. I've seen far better.
Alas, the existence of US military bases outside of the US does not mean that Russia invading Ukraine is the US's fault – It's Russia's fault.
You are also deliberately calling NATO bases US bases. They aren't. They are NATO bases. NATO is a defence treaty where every member joined willingly. In fact, more are seeking to join, because of Russia's aggression.