“Let me reassure everyone”: expert assesses whether the U.S. under Trump could really leave NATO

Political strategist Mikhail Sheitelman commented on Donald Trump’s statements that the United States might withdraw from NATO due to allies’ refusal to help with Iran, and assessed how it might all end, Politeka reports.

He spoke about this on his blog.

“Sheitelman said that Trump would withdraw the U.S. from NATO. I said this at the very beginning of Trump’s term. He will announce the U.S. withdrawal from NATO. He could announce it on social media, he could sign an executive order… That’s my prediction. He will try to do it. And you see, at least over a year and two months, we’ve reached the point where Trump has announced it — that the U.S. will leave NATO. They haven’t left yet, but he has announced it,” notes Mikhail Sheitelman.

At the same time, he recalls a joke by the Leningrad Medical Institute team in KVN: if the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were to leave the USSR, it’s scary to imagine what country Mikhail Gorbachev would be president of. Thus, the expert says, it is obvious that Mark Rutte must be feeling uneasy, because if the U.S. leaves NATO, it would be unclear what organization he would remain Secretary General of.

“But let me reassure everyone. He won’t be able to leave. First of all, Trump will just write a post and think that’s enough. Then he’ll sign an order saying the U.S. should leave NATO. But while Congress debates it, while a court rules it invalid… They spent years signing the NATO agreement, so it will take years to withdraw,” explains Mikhail Sheitelman.

As an example, the expert cites Britain, which took a long time to leave the European Union, since it required a referendum followed by a couple of years of transition, and so on. Therefore, he concludes, naturally no one will be leaving anything anytime soon.