Forget the rebellion. Helping the enemy is treason. – Chicago Tribune

In April 1949, the world was shaken by unspeakable horrors. An estimated 85 million people suffered painful deaths in World War II; 45 million soldiers were involved in battlefields; 25 million people died of hunger; 11 million Jews, gays and other minorities breathed their last in Hitler’s maniacal death camps.

Allied forces emerged from the war determined to build a collective defense for the future. The North Atlantic Treaty established NATO and gave teeth to a free world order governed by the rule of law.

NATO, rewarded for its armed deterrence, gloomily acknowledged that although Hitler was gone, the lust for power, brutality and evil that drove men like him would continue. For NATO signatories still limping from the war, the question was not if, but when, Hitler-caliber evil would reemerge on the global stage.

Inviting an enemy to attack NATO allies is treason

NATO, a binding treaty of war and peace, is more than an aspiration. According to the revered and foundational text of the U.S. Constitution, treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate are the Supreme Law of the Land.

America and its European allies have pledged for 75 years that under the treaty, an armed attack on any NATO member would impose the same military obligations on all NATO members. Under NATO’s Article 5, in the event of such an attack, each member state undertakes to take “such measures as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Last week, by insulting and belittling that commitment, a former president who is trying to stay in power by force openly encouraged his current enemy, Russia, to “do whatever they want” to NATO allies, punishing them for failure. It plans to allocate 2 percent of its GDP to defense spending.

Putin has threatened America and NATO with using nuclear weapons since invading Ukraine in 2022. Any attack by Russia on Trump’s orders would trigger NATO’s collective military commitments and prompt wartime responses with unimaginable consequences.

Putin is a war criminal and KGB agent who imprisons his critics, poisons political opponents, and throws his enemies out of windows. He is wanted at the International Criminal Court for war crimes as he brandishes his world-destroying nuclear arsenal.

Trump’s suggestion that he would attack NATO allies wasn’t just stupid. He put America and its allies in real danger in order to provide aid and comfort to an existing enemy. This was treason.

Panicked world reacts to Trump’s ignorance

Trump’s new level of stupidity burst onto the world stage just as the American intelligence community learned of Russia’s nuclear capabilities that could disable American defense space satellites. Although Trump’s support is strongest among uneducated voters, his display of ignorance still sent shockwaves around the world. The rebukes were swift:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: Trump’s comments “undermine all of our security, including the security of the United States, and put American and European soldiers at greater risk.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “The relativization of NATO’s aid guarantee is irresponsible and dangerous and is only in Russia’s interest.”

European Council President Charles Michel: “Reckless statements about #NATO security and Article 5 solidarity serve only Putin’s interests. They do not bring more security or peace to the world…”

President Biden: Trump just “sent a dangerous and frankly shocking anti-American signal to the world… The whole world heard it… No one else heard it.”
“No president in history has ever submitted to a Russian dictator…”

Any of these world leaders might have educated Trump and America’s ignoramuses that the only time the NATO mutual defense treaty is invoked is when European allies came to the aid of the United States after the September 11 attacks. NATO allies went to war for us for 20 years.

Receiving benefits for decades and then refusing to reciprocate leaves us looking like a mentally challenged tyrant unfit to lead.

Trump would start World War III to serve his own ego

Trump, who seeks to destroy democratic governments, is not the only useful idiot at Putin’s disposal. Right-wing media idiots like Tucker Carlson are also in on the game, and it’s working. After the Senate last week approved $60 billion in aid to Ukraine with bipartisan support, Trump spokesman Mike Johnson promised there would be no vote in the House.

My grandfather Gus Wirthwein fought in World War II. One of the lucky ones made it back to his farm in Huntingburg, Indiana, with both legs intact. At the end of the day, he loved drinking beer (Pabst) and chopping walnuts in front of the campfire. He would talk about the crops, the neighbor’s foals, the weather—almost everything—but never about what had happened to him during the war.

I just pray that Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing and what he would do to NATO and the free world if given another chance.

Sabrina Haake is a Chicago attorney and resident of Gary. Substack writes the newsletter Haake Recruitment.