From the TOP ROPE! Rubio to NATO: If We Can’t Use the Bases, What’s the Point?

America keeps bases in Europe so we can project power when a crisis hits. A crisis hit. Iran. And a handful of our so-called allies told U.S. aircraft, in so many words, not from here.

Rubio called that absurd.

Watch:

.@SecRubio on NATO: "One of the reasons why we have bases in NATO — one of the benefits to us — is the ability to project power in case of a contingency. We had a contingency and we had a couple countries say, 'You can't use your base here.' That's absurd. If we can't use our… pic.twitter.com/z7V8xysLDC

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 22, 2026

Post continues:

... our base when we have a contingency, then what's the point of having the base and, frankly, what's the point of having the alliance?"

He is not wrong.

The whole sales pitch for NATO, at least the part that is supposed to benefit us, is those bases. They exist so American power can move when the world gets ugly. If the host country slams the gate the minute the mission becomes politically inconvenient, you do not have an alliance. You have expensive real estate with a landlord who only likes you on parade days. I have listened to the lectures for years. America must lead. America must defend Europe. America must keep writing the checks and stationing the troops. Fine. Then do not treat the one practical benefit we get — the ability to use those bases in a contingency — like an optional extra. 

Spain has been especially shameless. Italy’s base politics got messy. Some countries helped, and Rubio said so. 

Others treated American power projection like a favor they could decline after the bill was already paid.This is not isolationism. This is a contract. We are pledged to defend them. They are not obligated to let us use “our” bases when we are in a fight they find awkward. That is a lopsided arrangement, and pretending otherwise is how you end up with an alliance that exists mainly as a communiqué.Rubio has been a NATO guy for a long time. When a NATO guy starts asking what the point is, Europe should stop clutching pearls and start answering. Bases we cannot use in a crisis are not assets. They are souvenirs. 

And I am tired of paying for souvenirs.

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