If that's true, then Trump is a bigger idiot than he seems.
NATO won't refuse to defend the US. They aren't so stupid as to abandon their responsibility to Article 5. That doesn't mean the US will do the same, but NATO takes that promise seriously.
If he's betting on Europe being the one to drop that ball, then he hasn't read the room.
Ummm, yeah. You didn't actually read what I wrote. I never said the US would respect its alliances...I said the rest of NATO would. If Trump is banking on Europe bailing on their promises first, in order to justify his own betrayal, then it isn't going to work.
Unlike him, the rest of NATO understands the importance of being unified in their objectives, .even if sometimes that unity is just for show.
As for the rest of us hay you were talking about...I think you have vastly overestimated Trump's intellectual grasp of history. He doesn't give a shit about US / European history. He doesn't even fucking read. He cares about money. Right now...and how much. He will do whatever he is paid to do, as long as you outbid the competition. None of that other shit matters.