Seventy-five years, the transatlantic compact has rested on it, which was suiting both sides: Europe believed the United States would always be there, and America pretended it still needed to be. The illusion also allowed European governments to cut defense spending too low, defer industrial mobilization, and take on strategic risk. For Washington, NATO provided it with a moral anchor, while it was already refocusing its geopolitical attention to Asia. Some could clearly state: this unspoken bargain is now bankrupt. The latest security analysis circulating in Washington, currently openly being pushed by the Trump Administration, especially by Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, and others, shows the USA signaling something Europe has been refusing to hear for years: America is no longer willing or prepared to carry the burden of European defense. What is even worse, or outright frightening, some parts of the Trump establishment, or MAGA, are now openly contemplating a strategic détente with Moscow. The latter recalibrates Russia from an existential threat to a potential counterweight in a world defined by a China-US rivalry. The latter is, to say the least, remarkable, given Russia and China’s increased security and economic cooperation, even against a European pro-Western country like Ukraine.