For Trump, Failure Is the Only Option.
*Its all of a piece. Whatever claims Trump makes about other countries misbehavior, whatever demands he makes on a particular day, theyre all in evident bad faith. Mr. Art of the Deal doesnt want any deals. He just wants to tear things down. . .
Whats his motivation? Part of the answer is that anything that weakens the Western alliance helps Vladimir Putin; if Trump isnt literally a Russian agent, he certainly behaves like one on every possible occasion.
Beyond that, Trump obviously dislikes anything that smacks of rule of law applying equally to the weak and the strong. At home, he pardons criminal bigots while ripping children away from their parents. In international relations, he consistently praises brutal strongmen while heaping scorn on democratic leaders. . .
He doesnt want negotiations with our allies and trading partners to succeed; he wants them to fail. And by the time everyone realizes this, the damage may be irreversible.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/opinion/trump-nato-failure.html